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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 

MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/bassesfreshwaterOOharrrich 


PE  BASSES 
I^RESH-WATER^. 


A  Leap  for  Freedom 


AMt' 


THE  BASSES 
FRESH-WATER 
AND  MARINE 

BYWILUAMCp^RIS 
SiTARLETONH^EAN 
ED1TED&  ILLUSTRATED 
BY  LOUIS  RHEAD 


^Hf",    -   - — 


FREDERICK- ASTOKESCOMPANY- NEW-YORK 


Copyright,  1905 
By  Frederick  A.  Stokes  Compant 


All  righis  reserved 


Published  in  December,  1905 


TnXIYEBSITT  PBESS,  CAHBBIDGB,   U.  S.  A. 


A3 


PREFACE 

A  FEW  lines  only  are  necessary  to  explain 
the  object  with  which  this  volume  on  the 
Basses  is  put  forth.     It  is  intended  as  a 
^  companion  and  sequel  to  the  Editor's  book 
on  Brook  Trout,  which  from  all  sources  has  received 
a  most  kindly  and  flattering  reception — a  favor  he 
would  bespeak  for  the  present  issue. 

The  shortcomings  of  the  previous  work  have,  it 
is  hoped,  been  obviated  in  this  volume.  All  the 
matter  has  been  specially  written  for  it,  and  a 
greater  number  of  colored  pictures,  reproduced  by 
better  and  later  methods,  have  been  used.  The  main 
object  has  been  to  supply  readers  with  complete 
information,  not  only  how,  when,  and  where  to  fish 
for  bass,  but  also  to  enable  them  to  find  "poetic 
descriptions,  entertaining  accounts,  and  pleasing 
vicissitudes  of  angling,"  so  that  they  may  catch  a 
glimpse,  if  possible,  of  the  glamour  and  light  of 
nature-study,  without  which  half  the  delight  in  fish- 
ing would  be  lost. 

So  far,  little  or  nothing  has  been  said  concerning 


PREFACE 

the  marine  basses,  especially  that  king  of  marine 
game-fish,  the  striped  bass ;  and  the  Editor  is  fortu- 
nate in  securing  for  this  subject  such  a  writer  as 
Dr.  Tarleton  H.  Bean,  whose  practical  angling  skill, 
combined  with  his  well-known  scientific  knowledge, 
furnishes  the  reader  with  complete  information  on 
marine  fishing. 

It  has  been  thought  best  to  have  the  matter  re- 
lating to  the  fresh-water  basses  entirely  from  the 
pen  of  one  author,  and  that  concerning  the  marine 
basses  from  another,  making  possible  a  more  com- 
plete and  satisfactory  result.  The  late  William  C. 
Harris's  contribution  was  his  last  work,  his  closing 
chapters  having  been  finished  in  Saint  Vincent's 
Hospital.  Although  most  of  his  writings  were  on 
trout  and  trout-fishing,  he  preferred,  and  spent 
many  years  of  his  later  life  in  fly-fishing  for  black 
bass,  and  he  often  expressed  a  desire  to  have  the 
chance  of  writing  a  complete  book  on  the  bass  (a 
subject  on  which  none  were  more  capable).  This 
volume  gave  him  the  opportunity  in  the  plenitude 
of  his  powers,  and  he  produced  what  he  himself 
considered  the  best  work  of  his  life.  His  idea  of 
introducing  three  anglers,  each  with  a  different 
mode  of  capture,  to  tell  in  their  own  way  how  best 
to  angle  for  the  gamy  bass,  is  a  happy  one,  which 
he  had  in  mind  years  ago. 

As  the  illustrations  of  flies  for  the  book  on 
Brook  Trout  were  prepared  by  an  expert,  a  similar 


PREFACE 


collection  of  bass  flies  has  been  tied  and  arranged 
especially  for  this  work. 

The  publishers'  devotion  to  the  art  of  angling  can 
be  inferred  from  the  care  bestowed  on  all  the  little 
details  which  only  a  labor  of  love  can  inspire,  and 
which  makes  beauty  and  usefulness  join  hands. 

Should  "  The  Basses  "  meet  with  an  encouraging 
success,  it  will  be  followed  by  a  series  of  works  on 
angling,  under  the  title  of  "  A  Library  of  Rod  and 
Reel."  This  will  contain  volumes  individually  dis- 
tinctive, though  uniform  in  size  and  character,  and 
their  titles  will  be  announced  in  due  course. 

LOUIS   RHEAD 


vu 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface      v 

List  of  Illustrations xi 

Introduction.     By  Tarleton  H.  Bean xiii 

The  Song  of  the  Bass.     By  Alice  Calhoun  Haines    .     .  xxiii 

The  Fresh-water  Basses.     By  William  C.  Harris     .     .  1 

The  Habits  of  the  Black  Bass 11 

Qualities  of  the  Black  Bass 18 

Feeding-habits  of  the  Black  Bass 26 

Bait-fishing  for  Black  Bass 81 

Baits  for  Black  Bass 40 

In  the  Matter  of  Flies 48 

The  Black  Bass  and  the  Trout  compared   .     .  53 

The  Minor  Basses  (Black  Bass  Family)  ...  67 
Fly-fishing    for    Black    Bass    in    the    Schuylkill 

River.     By  William  C.  Harris 75 

Bass  in  the  Beaverkill.     By  Louis  Rhead      .     .     .     .  117 

The  Choice  of  Flies     By  Louis  Rhead       129 

Notes  on  the  Cooking  of  Bass.     By  Louis  Rhead  .     .  143 

ix 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Artificial    Lures    for    Black    Bass.      By  James  A. 

Cruikshank 153 

The  Marine  Basses.     By  Tarleton  H.  Bean     .     .     .     .  165 

The  Striped  Bass 167 

The  White  Bass 212 

The  White  Perch 218 

The  Yellow  Bass 228 

The  Sea-bass 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

A  Leap  for  Freedom  (Colored  plate) Frontispiece 

The  Father  of  Anglers Facing  page  xvi 

Large-mouthed  Black  Bass "  8 

The  best  Time  for  Bass  (Photogravure)       ...  "  22 

Trolling  with  live  Bait «  36 

Fishing  with  Lampreys  in  deep  Water      ...  ''  42 

Lake  Fishing "  48 

Fishing  for   Black    Bass  in  the  St.  Lawrence 

(Colored  plate) "  54 

Playing  the  Black  Bass "  62 

Removing  the  Hook "  70 

Fact  and  Fiction "  84 

Trolling  for  Bass  in  Maine  (Colored  plate)      .     .  ''  90 

Landing ''  98 

An  Enthusiast ''  108 

Casting  the  Fly "  124 

Bass  Flies  (Colored  plate) "  134 

Maine  Guides  preparing  Lunch "  148 

xi 


LIST      OF      ILLUSTRATIONS 

Bass  Lures  now  in  Use Facing  page  158 

Landing  a  Striped  Bass  at  Dawn  (Colored  plate)  "  178 

Fishing  from  a  Stand "  200 

Striped  Bass  Fishing  on  the  New  England  Coast  "  210 

Striped  Bass  "\ 

Sea-Bass                                 I  (Colored  plate)      .  "  222 

Small-mouthed  Black  Bass  J 

A  running  Fight «  234 


3di 


INTRODUCTION 


ANEW  book  upon  the  Basses  is  the  grati- 
fying announcement  of  this  introductory 
_  chapter.  What  memories  will  crowd  be- 
fore the  reader  at  the  mere  mention  of 
the  name !  It  must  have  occurred  to  every  one  who 
has  examined  the  index  to  any  general  work  upon 
our  fishes  that  the  basses  in  myriad  forms  have  a 
wide  circle  of  acquaintances,  and  they  certainly 
may  claim  a  world  of  devoted  friends. 

From  Manitoba  and  the  St.  Lawrence  on  the 
north,  through  the  Great  Lakes  region,  the  entire 
extent  of  the  Mississippi  basin,  and  in  rivers  flow- 
ing from  both  slopes  of  the  Alleghanies,  either  as 
natives  or  by  artificial  introduction,  the  fresh- water 
forms  are  found  in  abundance.  Men  know  them 
under  scores  of  names,  and  prize  them  none  the 
less  for  the  endless  nomenclature  due  chiefly  to 
variations  of  color  and  form  and  peculiarities  of 
habit. 

The  ocean  has  its  own  representatives  no  less 


INTRODUCTION 

favorably  and  widely  known;  for  the  giant  of  the 
race,  the  richest  prize  of  the  angler  on  our  eastern 
coast,  has  been  carried,  as  a  tribute  of  friendship, 
to  the  Pacific,  and  has  heartily  entered  into  the 
spirit  of  its  transportation  by  adopting  its  new 
environment  and  increasing  beyond  all  expectation. 
We  have  sometimes  feared  that  the  striped  bass 
is  a  vanishing  element  of  our  angling  resources; 
but  Californians  are  just  beginning  to  enjoy  what 
appears  to  be  a  rapidly  growing  source  of  supply, 
thanks  to  the  energy  and  skill  of  modern  fish- 
culture,  and  to  the  wonderful  fitness  of  the  western 
ocean  for  the  new  life  consigned  to  its  keeping. 

The  fresh-water  basses  are  more  numerous  than 
the  marine  forms,  but  they  are  pigmies  in  size 
compared  with  the  striped  bass.  It  is  claimed  that 
the  large-mouthed  black  bass  attains  a  weight  of 
twenty-five  pounds  in  Florida;  but  its  average 
weight,  even  in  the  South,  which  furnishes  condi- 
tions most  favorable  to  its  growth,  does  not  ex- 
ceed five  pounds.  The  small-mouthed  black  bass 
seldom  exceeds  eight  pounds  in  weight  and  aver- 
ages scarcely  more  than  two  and  a  half  pounds. 
The  sea-bass  is  the  smallest  of  the  series,  for  it 
reaches  a  maximum  of  only  six  pounds,  and  this 
is  attained  on  its  offshore  feeding-grounds  where 
suitable  "  banks,"  rocks,  or  sunken  wrecks  occur 
in  deep  water. 

The  striped  bass  is  one  of  the  largest,  if  not 


INTRODUCTION 

the  largest,  game-fish  that  ascends  rivers  from  the 
sea.  It  is  doubtful  if  even  the  king-salmon  of  the 
Pacific  equals  it  in  size.  The  early  writers  upon 
New  York  fishes  made  particular  mention  of  this 
fish,  which  was  remarkable  for  its  size  and  its  ex- 
cellent qualities  for  the  table.  Dr.  Mitchill  saw  a 
dozen  at  a  time,  weighing  fifty  pounds  each,  in 
New  York  market  nearly  a  century  ago.  Dr. 
James  Mease  published  an  interesting  account  of 
the  bass  about  the  same  time,  in  which  he  referred 
to  individuals  weighing  sixty  pounds.  Dr.  Cape- 
hart  took  one  at  Avoca,  N.  C,  scahng  ninety-five 
pounds;  but  the  largest  recorded  specimen  was 
said  to  weigh  one  hundred  and  twelve  pounds. 

On  the  Pacific  coast  it  has  not  yet  demonstrated 
its  full  limit  of  growth,  and  we  seldom  hear  of 
one  exceeding  forty  pounds ;  but  there  is  no  doubt 
that  history  will  repeat  itself  in  those  prolific  waters. 
This  bass  has  a  long  lease  of  life  if  we  may  judge 
from  experience  in  the  New  York  Aquarium,  where 
many  of  its  kind  have  flourished  in  captivity  for 
eleven  years  or  longer. 

The  striped  bass  has  several  smaller  relatives,  the 
white  bass  and  the  yellow  bass  of  the  fresh  waters, 
and  the  white  perch  of  the  salt  and  brackish  waters 
of  the  Atlantic  coast.  All  of  these  are  game-fish 
with  good  food  qualities.  The  white  bass  has  been 
pronounced  almost  as  good  for  the  table  as  the 
black  bass.    In  European  seas  there  is  a  fish  which 


INTRODUCTION 

resembles  the  striped  bass  pretty  closely,  but  with- 
out stripes.  It  is  a  highly  prized  food-fish,  espe- 
cially at  the  summer  resorts  on  the  north  coast  of 
France. 

Anglers  who  are  familiar  with  the  basses  need 
no  argument  to  convince  them  of  their  many  vir- 
tues. They  are  all  beautiful  and  shapely  fish,  they 
furnish  endless  sport,  and  fill  an  important  place 
in  contributing  to  the  food  supply.  Their  flesh 
is  firm,  flaky,  and  toothsome.  The  reason  is  not 
far  to  seek,  for  they  subsist  upon  smaller  fish, 
crustaceans,  shell-fish,  and  other  delicacies.  In  the 
fresh  waters  they  delight  in  minnows,  crayfish, 
frogs,  and  insects  and  their  larvse.  In  the  ocean 
they  find  ample  supplies  of  alewives,  killies,  silver- 
sides,  anchovies,  crabs,  squid,  clams,  and  mussels. 
Is  it  surprising  that  they  rank  among  the  very 
choicest  in  our  markets  and  among  the  best  trophies 
of  the  angler's  skill? 

The  records  of  the  United  States  Fisheries  Bu- 
reau show  that  it  cost  less  than  $5,000  to  transplant 
shad  and  striped  bass  to  the  Pacific  coast,  and  that 
the  value  of  the  catch  of  these  two  fish  to  the  end 
of  1904  was  $955,000,  —  a  very  good  return  for 
the  investment  and  a  clear  illustration  of  the  money 
value  of  these  two  favorite  fishes.  The  striped 
bass  formed  a  very  large  share  of  this  total,  if  we 
may  judge  from  recent  accounts  of  the  fishing. 
At  San  Antonio  Slough,  for  example,  thirty  miles 

xvi 


The  Father  of  Anglers 


INTRODUCTION 

from  San  Francisco,  ten  anglers  caught  1,200 
pounds  of  bass  on  a  single  tide.  One  of  the 
party  said: 

"  I  never  saw  the  like ;  they  fill  the  water  Hke  a  drove  of 
sheep.  It  is  dangerous  to  drive  them  inshore  in  shallow 
water  with  small  boats.  .  .  .  Driven  to  the  hmit,  they 
turned  to  seek  deeper  water,  and  in  their  attempts  to 
escape  many  jumped  upon  the  banks  and  some  into  the 
boats.  .  .  .  We  had  to  finally  seek  deep  water  for  safety, — 
put  to  ignominious  flight  by  a  horde  of  striped  bass." 

The  striped-bass  angler  on  the  Atlantic  coast  is 
never  obliged  to  apologize  for  such  a  commercial 
catch,  as  the  fish  are  nowhere  plentiful  enough  to 
make  it  possible;  but  the  bass  are  not  always  as 
far  away  from  New  York  waters  as  one  might 
suppose,  and  the  initiated  know  where  some  of 
them  are  to  be  foim^d  even  in  the  winter  months. 

It  is  not  within  the  province  of  this  chapter  to 
discuss  fishing-grounds  and  modes  of  capture  of 
the  fresh- water  basses:  all  such  topics  and  more 
will  be  handled  in  his  own  inimitable  style  by 
Mr.  William  C.  Harris,  whose  name  is  a  sufficient 
introduction  for  anything  he  proposes  to  write. 
Neither  is  it  intended  to  dwell  upon  the  beauties 
of  form,  color,  and  motion  to  be  observed  in  per- 
fection among  the  basses:  Mr.  Rhead  will  portray 
these  attributes  with  the  same  fidelity  and  affection 
which  characterized  his  recent  work  upon  that  fairy 


INTRODUCTION 

among  game-fishes,  the  Brook  Trout.  There  are 
some  characteristic  features,  however,  about  the 
basses,  which  enhance  the  interest  attached  to  their 
study,  and  which  should  not  be  omitted  from  this 
prehminary  sketch.  The  marine  basses  and  their 
fresh-water  aUies  will  be  presented  by  the  author 
of  this  Introduction. 

The  striped  bass,  huge  as  it  is,  starts  from  a 
very  small  beginning:  before  fertilization  its  egg 
is  smaller  than  that  of  the  shad,  increases  greatly 
in  size  after  fertilization,  and  changes  from  a  beau- 
tiful light  green  to  a  pale  color.  Spawning  takes 
place  from  April  to  June,  either  in  the  rivers  or 
in  brackish  waters  of  bays  and  sounds.  The  num- 
ber of  eggs  is  enormous,  and  yet  our  waters  are 
nowhere  overstocked  with  the  fish,  showing  that 
there  are  many  natural  as  well  as  artificial  checks 
upon  their  undue  increase.  The  spawning-grounds 
in  North  CaroUna  have  been  located,  and  the  con- 
ditions necessary  to  successful  artificial  hatching 
are  understood.  There  is  no  reason  why  this  noble 
fish  should  not  be  started  at  least  on  the  way  to 
multiplication;  and,  unless  unforeseen  natural  ob- 
stacles intervene,  fish-culture  should  soon  score 
another  brilliant  success. 

The  sea-bass,  sometimes  called  blackfish,  or 
black  sea-bass  in  New  York,  black  Will  in  the 
Middle  States,  black  perch  in  Massachusetts,  and 
rock-bass  at  New  Bedford,  ranges  along  the  coast 


INTRODUCTION 

from  Massachusetts  to  Florida.  It  reaches  a  lengtii 
of  eighteen  inches  and  a  maximum  weight  of  six 
pounds,  and  is  considered  one  of  the  valuable  food- 
fishes.  It  has  a  voracious  appetite  and  takes  the 
hook  with  great  freedom  and  regularity.  Shrimp, 
crabs,  sea-worms,  squid,  and  small  fishes  form  part 
of  its  food.  Around  Cape  Cod  the  sea-bass  spawns 
in  June.  The  egg  is  one  twenty-sixth  of  an  inch 
in  diameter  and  hatches  in  five  days  in  water  of 
59°  or  60°  F.  The  young  frequent  the  channels 
and  shallow  bays  and  are  often  taken  in  eel-pots. 
A  narrow  brown  stripe  along  the  middle  of  the 
side  is  a  distinguishing  mark.  The  rate  of  growth 
is  rapid. 

Large  sea-bass  love  the  vicinity  of  sunken  wrecks 
and  offshore  banks  where  the  bottom  is  rocky. 
In  the  breeding-season  the  adult  male  is  gor- 
geously colored  and  wears  a  great  fleshy  hump 
on  the  nape.  There  is  a  decided  tendency  toward 
sluggishness  among  the  big  ones,  and  a  fondness 
for  hiding  in  rock  crevices  in  imitation  of  the 
tautog. 

The  large-mouthed  black  bass  is  one  of  the  most 
voracious  of  the  fresh-water  fishes,  and  with  its 
voracity  is  combined  a  swiftness  of  motion  which 
brings  disaster  to  its  prey.  It  feeds  both  at  the 
surface  and  on  the  bottom,  varying  its  diet  with 
small  fishes  of  all  kinds,  not  excepting  its  own 
offspring,  frogs,  insects  and  their  larvas,  and  any 

xix 


INTRODUCTION 

other  water  animals  of  proper  size.  In  one  of  the 
Government's  fish-ponds  at  Washington,  D.  C, 
some  years  ago,  about  100,000  young  bass  of  this 
kind  were  being  reared  artificially.  Before  these 
fish  were  removed  in  the  fall,  their  number  had 
been  reduced  by  cannibalism  to  about  30,000.  The 
majority  of  the  young  weighed  about  two  or  three 
ounces,  but  500  of  them  weighed  nearly  half  a 
pound  each.  When  placed  in  an  aquarium,  a  bass 
of  four  and  a  half  inches  devoured  seven  others 
nearly  as  large  as  itself  in  one  week.  So  much 
for  cannibalism,  and  so  much  by  way  of  explana- 
tion of  the  game  qualities  of  the  large-mouthed 
bass. 

This  bass  spawns  from  April,  or  earlier,  to  July. 
During  incubation  the  eggs  adhere  to  stones  in 
nests  prepared  by  the  adults,  and  are  zealously 
guarded  from  enemies.  Hatching  takes  place  in 
one  week  or  two  weeks  according  to  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  water.  The  young  remain  in  the  nests 
for  a  week  or  ten  days.  At  the  age  of  two  weeks 
they  measure  about  three  quarters  of  an  inch  in 
length.  The  parents  take  excellent  care  of  the 
young  as  long  as  they  continue  to  swarm  together, 
but  as  soon  as  they  begin  to  separate  and  seek  inde- 
pendence they  are  more  likely  to  be  devoured  by 
their  parents  than  by  an  outside  enemy. 

The  hibernation  which  takes  place  in  cold  weather 
has  also  been  observed  in  aquarium  captives,  which 

XX 


INTRODUCTION 

were  known  to  decline  food  entirely  in  the  winter. 
In  summer  the  fish  loves  to  he  under  overhanging 
and  brush-covered  banks  or  concealed  among  the 
water-plants  ready  to  pounce  upon  its  prey. 

The  small-mouthed  black  bass  is  a  lover  of  clear, 
pure,  swift  streams  from  the  upper  parts  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  basin  and  the  Great  Lakes  region 
through  the  basin  of  the  Mississippi.  East  of  the 
Alleghanies  it  is  native  to  the  head  waters  of  the 
Ocmulgee  and  the  Chattahoochee.  North  of  these 
streams  it  has  been  introduced  almost  everywhere. 
It  has  been  transplanted  to  Western  States,  to 
England,  France,  Germany,  and  Finland,  —  per- 
haps without  success  in  the  last-named  country. 
This  is  very  good  evidence  of  the  esteem  in  which 
the  small-mouthed  bass  is  held.  There  is  no  more 
popular  fish  in  our  fresh  waters. 

This  bass,  like  its  large-mouthed  relative,  is  a 
nest-builder.  Spawning  occurs  from  March  to 
July.  The  hatching  occupies  from  seven  to  four- 
teen days.  The  eggs  are  very  small  and  very 
adhesive;  they  are  bound  together  in  bands  or 
ribbons  and  adhere  to  the  stones  of  which  the  nest 
is  constructed.  A  single  female  will  yield  from 
2,000  to  10,000  eggs,  which  vary  from  80,000  to 
100,000  to  the  quart.  The  nest  and  young  are 
very  carefully  protected  by  both  parents  until  the 
young  cease  swarming,  after  which  the  adults  are 
not  fit  company  for  their  own  children,  because 


INTRODUCTION 

they  devour  them  as  readily  as  they  would  any 
other  little  fish. 

At  the  age  of  three  to  five  days  the  young  are 
almost  colorless,  and  so  small  that  they  can  scarcely 
be  seen;  their  length  is  only  about  a  quarter  of  an 
inch.  When  about  three  or  four  months  old  their 
bodies  are  dull  yellowish  green,  the  sides  mottled 
with  darker  spots  which  are  sometimes  arranged 
in  short  vertical  bars.  The  tail-fin  is  yellowish  at 
the  base,  and  bears  a  broad  black  band  in  its  middle 
portion  and  a  bright  whitish  margin  behind. 

The  adults  feed  upon  crayfish,  frogs,  insects  and 
their  larvae,  minnows,  and  other  aquatic  creatures. 
They  swim  in  schools  and  often  seek  the  shelter 
of  large  rocks  or  sunken  logs.  Hibernation  takes 
place  in  winter,  as  usual  with  their  race. 

With  these  fragmentary  glimpses  into  the  life 
and  home  of  a  coterie  of  game-fishes  which  stands 
unexcelled  in  the  esteem  of  all  good  fishermen,  the 
reader  may  confidently  pass  to  the  real  purpose  of 
this  book,  which  is  to  remind  the  angler  of  happy 
days  on  limpid  streams  or  rock-bound  ocean  shores, 
breathing  pure  air,  revelling  in  warm  sunshine, 
cheered  by  birds'  songs,  and  electrified  by  the  inde- 
finable thrill  which  foretells  glorious  victory  over 
a  noble  foe. 

TARLETON    H.    BEAN 


xxii 


THE  SONG  OF  THE  BASS 

When  summer  nights  are  hard  to  bear, 

And  dog-days  come  again ; 
When  fetid  grows  the  city  air. 

And  fagged  the  weary  brain; 
Then  free  ye  from  the  stifled  throng, — 

With  rod  and  reel  away 
To  where  bright  rivers  rush  along 

''Mid  flash  of  rainbow  spray! 

In  limpid  lakes  the  lilies  blow, 

Thovgh  breathless  be  the  town; 
On  woodland  banks  wild  roses  glow. 

And  silver  thistle-down 
Caught  lightly  on  the  placid  stream 

Like  goblin  craft  drift  by ; 
While  here  and  there  more  svhtle  gleam 

Intrigues  the  watchful  eye. 

Fresh  fern  a-plenty  for  his  creel, 

A  snack  within  the  shade, 
A  fragrant  pipe,  a  singing  reel; — 

The  angler'' s  day  is  made! 
And  some  the  lordly  salmon  praise. 

And  some  the  lusty  trout; 
To  many  men  are  many  ways 

Of  fishing,  without  doubt. 


THE     SONG     OF     THE     BASS 

To  many  men  are  many  minds 

(Who  would  dispute  or  hlam^?)^ 
And  muny  boasts  of  many  kinds. 

Yet  this  my  modest  claim: 
In  rocky  lair  the  Bass  is  found. 

Where  the  swirling  eddy  dims. 
Inch  for  inch  and  pound  for  pound, 

The  gamest  fish  that  swiimsl 

A  doughty  knight  vn  armor  bright. 

No  gage  will  he  let  pass. 
The  artfid  fiy,  the  helgramite. 

Young  frog  from  swampy  grass. 
He  7/  gorge ;  then,  turning,  dare  his  foe 

To  equal  fight  and  free, — 
Or  salt,  or  fresh,  while  waters  flow. 

No  bolder  fish  than  he. 

He  never  skulks,  he  never  sulks. 

Above,  below  the  flood. 
With  valiant  lunge  and  prismy  plunge. 

His  challenge  he  11  make  good. 
Till  every  cunning  trick  is  tried, — 

Ye  gods  !  we  7/  haul  him  in. 
By  gaff  and  net  snatched  from  the  tide, 

A  vanquished  paladin ! 

The  night-moth  and  the  dragonfly 
No  more  need  fear  his  leap; 

No  more  on  balanced  fin  he  7/  lie 
Guarding  his  castle-keep. 


THE     SONG     OF     THE     BASS 

To  many  hards  are  many  lays. 

Without  dispute  or  dovbt ; 
And  some  the  lordly  salmon  praise. 

And  some  the  lusty  trout. 

Yet  in  discourtesy  to  none. 

With  due  respect  to  all. 
When  hotly  beats  the  August  sun. 

And  city  pleasures  pall. 
The  Bass,  in  river,  bay,  or  sound, 
"^     My  loyal  mu^e  stiH  hymns. 
Inch  for  inch  and  pound  for  pound. 

The  gamest  fish  that  swims. 

ALICE  CALHOUN  HAINES 


The  Study  of  Fishes 

DURING  the  last  quarter  of  a  century 
there  has  evidently  been  among  anglers 
an  increasing  and  cumulative  desire 
to  follow  their  pastime  with  improved 
equipments  for  capture,  constructed  on  more 
scientific  principles,  and  more  deceptive  to  the 
fishes  they  wish  to  basket.  Equally  important  and 
much  more  encouraging  to  the  educated  class  of 
Waltonians  is  the  increasing  interest  taken  by  the 
craft  at  large  in  acquiring  knowledge  of  the  habits 
and  life-histories  of  the  fish  they  seek  to  lure.  But 
unfortunately  at  the  threshold  of  this  knowledge 
there  is  a  drawback  to  its  acquirement,  in  that  they 
are  compelled,  in  the  case  of  many  game-fishes,  to 
learn  by  rote,  as  it  were,  their  technical  nomencla- 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

ture  (often  given  in  the  dead  languages)  and  the 
scientific  classification  laid  down  in  the  complicated 
text-books  of  the  scientists,  so  that  they  may  be 
able  to  differentiate  their  favorite  fishes  and  assign 
them  to  the  correct  family  or  species. 

This  condition  will  be  better  understood  when  it 
is  stated  that  ichthyologists  tell  us  that  — 

The  black  bass  is  not  a  bass  —  it  is  a  sunfish. 
The  white  perch  is  not  a  perch — it  is  a  bass. 
The  rock-bass  is  not  a  bass  —  it  is  a  sunfish. 
The  wall-eyed  pike  is  not  a  pike  —  it  is  a  perch,  — 

—  and  so  on  almost  without  limit. 

These  statements  are  maintained  in  the  face  of 
the  fact  that  in  every  section  of  the  country  the 
first  names  above  stated  are  those  given  to  the  fish 
by  fishermen,  many  of  whom  know  no  other  ap- 
pellatives for  them.  Again,  the  great  number  of 
local  and  popular  names  applied  to  one  and  the 
same  fish  in  various  parts  of  the  United  States 
adds  to  the  confusion  in  the  identification  of 
species.  Thus  the  big-mouthed  black  bass  of 
Louisiana,  among  its  many  other  Southern  names, 
is  there  known  as  the  "  green  trout,"  while  in 
Virginia  it  is  called  a  "chub";  and  the  familiar 
wall-eyed  pike  or  pike-perch  is  known  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  other  waters  as  "  salmon." 


THE     F  R  E  S  H-W  ATER     BASSES 

The  Fresh-Water  Basses 

From  the  above  it  will  be  seen  how  important 
it  is  that  the  student  angler,  in  the  early  stages 
of  his  progress,  should  have  a  clear  understanding 
of  the  proper  classification  of  the  basses,  and  a 
sufficient  knowledge  of  the  anatomical  differences 
between  the  fishes  of  the  family,  to  distinguish  one 
from  the  other  when  boated  or  grassed  by  his  rod. 
The  methods  by  which  this  is  done  will  be  ex- 
plained under  the  separate  captions,  designating 
each  fish  then  under  treatment.  In  the  mean  time 
the  angler  should  make  himself  thoroughly  fa- 
mihar  with  the  following  list,  in  which  are  desig- 
nated all  the  fishes  popularly  classed  as  "  basses  " 
and  scientifically  known  as  "  sunfishes,"  bearing  in 
mind  that  the  single  popular  name  of  each  fish 
has  many  multiples  in  nearly  every  section  where 
it  has  its  habitat. 

The  fresh-water  basses,  then,  popularly  so  called, 
but  actually  members  of  the  family  Centrarchidce, 
the  sunfishes,  include  the  small-mouthed  black  bass 
—  Micropterus  dolomiei;  the  large-mouthed  black 
bass  —  Micropterus  salmoides;  the  rock-bass  — 
Ambloplites  rupestris;  the  strawberry-bass  (two 
forms)  — Pomooois  sparoides  and  P.  annularis; 
and  the  warmouth  bass  —  Chcenohryttus  gulosus. 

The  true  fresh-water  basses  that  are  angled  for, 
and  which  belong  strictly  to  the  bass  family  — 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

Serranidce  —  are  only  three  in  number:  the  white 
bass  —  Roccus  chrysops;  the  yellow  bass  —  Mo- 
rone  interrupta;  and  the  white  perch  —  Morone 
americana. 


The  Black  Basses 

Owing  to  the  almost  phenomenal  interest  taken 
in  fish-culture  by  the  people  and  by  our  state  and 
national  governments,  entailing  an  annual  expendi- 
ture equal  to  the  gross  appropriations  for  fish- 
culture  by  all  other  nations,  nearly  every  pond  and 
stream  of  sufficient  area,  purity,  and  depth,  has 
been  stocked  with  either  the  small-mouthed  or 
large-mouthed  black  bass.  Hence  this  great  game- 
fish  may  be  said  to  be  living  and  thriving  at  the 
back  door  of  nearly  every  fisherman  resident  in 
the  country  districts. 

About  three  hundred  years  ago  black  bass  were 
found  by  the  Spaniards  in  the  waters  of  Florida, 
and  in  1721  the  Jesuit  missionaries  caught  them 
in  several  Canadian  lakes.  During  the  early  years 
of  the  nineteenth  century  a  specimen  black  bass 
was  sent  from  the  United  States  to  the  French 
ichthyologist  Lacepede,  who  described  it  and  gave 
it  the  generic  name  Micropterus,  the  literal  mean- 
ing of  which  is  "  small  fin."  This  was,  however, 
a  misnomer,  because  the  fish  sent  to  Paris  had  a 
mutilated  dorsal  fin,  some  of  the  rays  of  which 


THE     F  R  E  S  H-W  ATER     BASSES 

were  broken  off,  thus  misleading  the  ichthyologist. 
Dr.  Henshall  tells  us  that  this  old  specimen  is  pre- 
served in  the  Museum  of  Natural  History  in 
Paris,  and  that  from  a  personal  .examination  he 
found  it  to  be  about  a  pound  in  weight,  a  foot 
in  length,  and  remarkably  well  preserved. 

The  black  bass  is  indigenous  in  waters  from 
"Lake  Champlain  westward  to  Manitoba,  and 
southward  on  both  sides  of  the  mountains  from 
James  River,  Virginia,  to  South  CaroHna,"  in 
the  waters  of  the  Gulf  States,  and  through- 
out the  Mississippi  valley.  It  has  been  success- 
fully and  widely  introduced  into  many  waters  near 
to  and  far  from  its  original  habitat,  and  American 
anglers  may  be  proud  that  they  have  a  native 
game-fish  which  is  said  to  be  almost  ubiquitous  in 
our  waters,  and  which,  for  its  size,  has  no  equal 
on  the  rod  for  sturdy  resistance  and  intelligent 
resources  to  escape  capture. 

Species 

There  are  but  two  species  of  black  bass,  —  the 
large-mouthed,  Micropterus  dolomiei,  and  the  small- 
mouthed,  Micropterus  salmoides.  Both  frequently 
inhabit  the  same  waters,  but  either  form  can  be 
easily  recognized  if  the  angler  will  expand  to  the 
utmost  limit  the  jaws  of  the  fish  he  has  caught. 

The  large-mouth  of  five  pounds'  weight  will 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

show  a  swallowing-capacity  about  equal  to  engulf- 
ing the  doubled  fist  of  a  five-year-old  boy,  and 
the  small-mouth  of  the*  same  weight  will  exhibit  the 
usual  gullet  of  other  scaled  fish  of  similar  size. 
So  much  to  guide  at  first  sight  of  the  captured 
bass;  but,  if  the  fish  are  biting  freely,  anglers, 
as  a  rule,  are  so  ardent  in  their  sport  that  classifi- 
cation will  not  be  a  factor  of  enjoyment  of  the 
outing.  But  around  the  camp-fire  or  during  the 
"  nooning  "  the  fact  will  doubtless  be  noticed  and 
discussed  that  the  eye  of  the  small-mouthed  black 
bass  is  posterior  to  the  angle  of  the  jaws,  and  that 
the  eye  of  the  big-mouthed  species  is  in  front  of 
their  posterior  termination.  It  will  also  be  ob- 
served that  there  are  only  ten  rows  of  scales  on 
the  cheek  of  the  latter,  and  about  seventeen  on  that 
of  the  small-mouth. 

Coloration 

The  coloration  of  the  black  basses  varies  in  nearly 
every  water  in  which  they  are  found,  and  this  con- 
trast is  sometimes  so  marked'  as  to  create  in  the 
minds  of  many  anglers  a  doubt  of  the  species.  In 
fact,  specimens  have  been  taken,  particularly  from 
Greenwood  Lake,  N.  Y.,  which  were  of  a  deep 
yellow  color  over  the  entire  body.  To  add  to  the 
perplexity,  an  occasional  fish  in  this  lake,  which  is 
inhabited  by  both  kinds,  partakes  of  the  physical 


I 


THE     F  R  E  S  H-W  ATER     BASSES 

markings  of  the  opposite  species,  leading  many 
anglers  to  believe  that  the  two  ure  interbreeding 
in  that  water,  —  a  condition  not  beyond  possibiUty 
and  calling  for  close  investigation.  About  ten 
years  ago  I  personally  examined  a  three-pound 
large-mouthed  black  bass  caught  in  Greenwood 
Lake,  the  eye  of  which  was  on  a  vertical  line  with 
the  angle  of  the  jaws.  The  ten  scales  on  the 
cheek,  however,  determined  its  species  and  settled 
all  doubt. 

The  small-mouthed  black  bass  in  most  waters 
has  a  bronze  lustre  which  mellows  and  spreads  over 
the  golden  green  above  the  lateral  line,  with  here 
and  there  dark  blotches,  particularly  on  the  head. 
!rhree  bronze  bands  radiate  from  the  eye  across 
the  cheek  and  gill-covers,  and  the  belly  is  creamy 
white,  —  in  some  waters  of  a  general  pepper-and- 
salt  coloration.  As  the  smaU-mouth  advances  in 
age  the  pigments  lose  their  strength  and  the  fish 
becomes  of  a  uniform  dead  green  with  a  silvery 
lustre. 

The  large-mouth  is  of  "a  dark  green  color 
above  and  greenish  silvery  on  the  sides  and  be- 
low." (In  this  connection  note  the  yellowish  col- 
oration of  the  Greenwood  Lake  bass.)  Jordan 
and  Evermann  tell  us  that  the  blackish  blotches 
along  the  lateral  line,  so  characteristic  of  the  large- 
mouthed  species,  "break  up  and  grow  fainter" 
as  they  grow  older.    I  have  caught  many  of  this 

9 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

form  of  black  bass,  weighing  from  three  to  five 
pounds  each,  and  failed  to  recognize  any  breaking- 
up  of  this  distinct  but  irregular  and  ugly  blotchy 
coloration  along  the  median  line.  There  is,  how- 
ever, hardly  a  limit  to  be  placed  upon  the  different 
colorations,  even  of  the  same  species,  and  some- 
times even  of  those  inhabiting  the  same  waters. 
The  factors  producing  these  variations  of  color 
are  the  nature  of  the  bottoms,  light  or  dark,  weedy 
or  rocky;  the  character  of  the  stream,  shaded  or 
otherwise;  and  the  food  most  abundant.  If  the 
latter  consists  chiefly  of  crustaceans,  the  color  of 
the  black  bass  will,  as  in  the  case  of  the  trout, 
become  richer  and  darker.  Changes  of  color  in 
the  black  bass,  as  also  in  the  trout,  have  been  seen 
to  occur  when  the  fish  moves  from  one  part  of 
the  stream  to  another  and  remains  there  a  short 
time  under  new  physical  conditions. 


10 


THE  HABITS   OF   THE  BLACK   BASS 

FEW  fish  thrive  in  such  extremes  of  tem- 
perature as  the  black  bass,  but  sudden 
changes  are  apt  to  be  fatal  to  both 
species.  The  large-mouth  will  Uve  in 
conditions  of  water,  under  high  temperature  and 
in  stagnant  ponds,  which  ordinarily  would  be  death 
to  all  other  forms  of  aquatic  life  except  that  of 
the  lowest  order.  Yet  with  this  fact  before  them 
there  are  some  people  —  anglers,  forsooth  —  who 
insist  that  in  point  of  gameness  and  as  a  food- 
fish  the  big- jawed  fellow  is  equal  to  the  acrobatic 
small-mouth  in  running  water! 

Reproduction 

The  black  bass  is  endowed  with  an  emotional 
quality  which  very  closely  approaches  parental 
affection.  While  the  salmon,  the  trout,  and  other 
salmonids,  as  well  as  most  other  fishes,  leave  their 
eggs,  as  soon  as  deposited,  to  the  ravages  of  the 
minnow,  eel,  catfish,  and  other  ravenous  spawn- 
eaters,  the  parent  bass  guards  the  nest  with  vigi- 
lance, and,  when  the  young  are  hatched,  hovers 

11 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

around  them  with  the  care  and  motherly  solicitude 
displayed  by  a  hen  toward  her  brood  of  chicks. 
But  few  fishes  have  this  "  instinct,"  which  is  a  con- 
venient word  to  apply  to  such  a  quality,  although 
"  hereditary  force  of  reason  "  or  "  emotion  "  would 
seem  to  express  it  more  forcibly. 

The  eggs  of  the  black  bass  cannot  be  artificially 
fertilized ;  they  can  be  stripped  only  with  great  diffi- 
culty, and  the  male  must  be  killed  in  order  to  obtain 
the  milt.  It  is  therefore  fortunate  that  the  natural 
increase  of  the  species,  when  left  to  their  own  re- 
sources and  the  happy  development  of  parental 
care  of  their  young,  has  been  found  sufficient  to 
stock  waters  of  any  size  with  this  noble  game- 
fish. 

The  black  bass  prepares  a  modest  nuptial  bed 
on  a  gravel,  rock,  sand,  or  clay  bottom,  and  in  some 
waters  (Greenwood  Lake  particularly)  the  nests 
and  young  have  been  seen  on  the  tops  of  submerged 
tree-stumps.  It  is  a  mooted  question  as  to  whether 
the  male  or  the  female  prepares  the  nest.  The 
similarity  in  the  appearance  of  both  sexes  would 
seem  to  account  for  the  different  opinions  of  fish- 
culturists  on  this  subject,  although  the  female  fish, 
in  her  gravid  condition,  shows,  to  a  more  or  less 
degree,  a  distension  of  the  abdomen.  As  the 
spawning-season  approaches,  which  in  the  South 
commences  as  early  as  March  and  in  the  Middle 
States  begins  about  the  5th  of  May  and  extends 

12 


THE  HABITS  OF  THE  BLACK  BASS 

into  .July,  the  two  fish,  according  to  the  reports 
of  the  United  States  Fish  Commission,  prepare 
the  nest  with  their  tails  hy  cleaning  a  space  of  all 
substances,  removing  the  larger  stones  on  the  bed 
with  their  heads  and  mouths. 

When  the  nests  are  ready  for  use,  both  fish, 
but  particularly  the  male,  swim  excitedly  back  and 
forth  about,  around,  and  across  the  nest.  When 
spawning,  as  they  cross  the  nest,  their  bellies  he 
close  together,  the  female  slightly  forward  of  the 
male,  and  the  eggs  and*  milt  are  simultaneously 
voided.  The  eggs,  being  viscid,  at  once  become 
attached  to  the  floor  of  the  nest.  The  parental 
sohcitude  of  both  fish  begins  at  the  moment  the 
eggs  are  fertilized^  one  of  them  hovering  over  the 
nest  and  waving  its  fins  to  and  fro  to  keep  the  eggs 
free  from  sediment.  The  other  parent  acts  as 
a  sentinel  and  in  water  of  a  foot  or  two  swims 
around  the  nest  at  a  distance  of  about  ten 
feet. 

The  above  notes  refer  exclusively  to  the  spawn- 
ing habits  of  the  small-mouthed  black  bass;  those 
of  the  large-mouth  differ  but  slightly.  The  latter 
seem  to  prefer  to  make  their  nests  on  the  roots  of 
water-plants. 

At  the  end  of  three  or  four  days,  or  sometimes 
a  week,  the  fry  leave  the  nest  and  immediately 
seek  shelter  in  shallows  where  vegetation  is  abun- 
dant.    They  live  mainly  on  minute  larval  forms, 

13 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater   and    marine 

although  when  slightly  older  small  crustaceans 
seem  to  be  their  principal  food.  At  the  age  of 
about  four  or  five  months  they  reach  a  length  of 
four  to  six  inches,  increasing,  under  the  most 
favorable  conditions,  about  a  pound  a  year. 

The  age  at  which  black  bass  produce  their  eggs 
has  always  been  a  matter  of  interest  and  is  as  yet 
not  fully  determined.  Some  years  ago  Mr.  J.  J. 
Stranahan,  an  Assistant  United  States  Fish  Com- 
missioner, stationed  at  that  time  on  Lake  Erie, 
wrote  me  from  Chagrin  Falls,  Ohio : 

"  There  are  a  number  of  small-mouthed  black  bass  now 
on  their  spawning-beds  in  a  pond  near  town,  and  among 
them  is  the  smallest  one  I  ever  saw  assuming  maternal 
duties.  She  is  not  over  four  or  five  inches  long  and  will 
not  weigh  over  two  ounces.  Her  bed  is  about  the  size  of 
a  tea-saucer  and  is  located  about  a  foot  from  shore  in  ten 
inches  of  water.  It  is  well  covered  with  eggs,  and  little 
Mrs.  Bass  is  looking  after  them  with  the  greatest  care, 
fanning  off  the  sediment  with  her  tail  and  driving  away 
all  intruding  animals.  She  is  much  bolder  than  is  usual 
with  her  kind,  and  remains  in  the  bed  while  visitors,  of 
whom  she  has  had  many  in  the  past  few  days,  are  stand- 
ing out  four  or  five  feet  away.  She  is,  of  course,  a  dwarf, 
and  is  probably  two,  or,  more  likely,  three  years  old." 

The  eggs  of  the  black  bass  differ  greatly  in 
number  and  size.  In  a  large-mouth  weighing  two 
and  a  half  pounds  17,000  eggs  have  been  found, 
which  would  average  somewhat  less  than  7,000 

14 


THE  HABITS  OF  THE  BLACK  BASS 

eggs  to  tile  pound  of  fish;  but  the  careful  count 
of  the  mature  eggs  showed  only  an  exact  aggre- 
gate of  2,674  eggs  to  the  pound.  This  difference 
can  be  accounted  for  only  by  the  large  size  of  the 
eggs,  and  the  counting  of  small  eggs  which  were 
commencing  their  maturity  for  the  next  production. 

The  Baby  Bass 

When  the  young  bass  reaches  a  growth  of  three 
or  four  inches  they  have  learned  to  take  care  of 
themselves,  and  no  minnow  is  so  well  adapted  by  its 
courage  and  build  to  do  so.  Like  all  other  young 
fish,  they  may  be  found  in  the  shallows  at  aU  times, 
but  occasionally  they  venture  afar,  and  it  is  not 
unusual,  on  a  baited  hook,  to  catch  one  three  inches 
long  in  ^Ye  or  six  feet  of  water.  Even  those  of 
two  inches  are  fierce  and  voracious,  and  seem  to  be 
marauders  through  heredity.  When  they  leave  the 
protecting  care  of  the  parent  they  are  about  an  inch 
in  length,  and  start  out  at  once  on  their  foraging 
courses,  snapping  up  every  form  of  insect  life  in 
the  water,  and  along  the  shores  one  may  now  and 
then  be  seen  rising  to  the  surface  for  an  unlucky 
gnat  or  small  miller.  I  have  seen  them  routing 
under  small  stones  for  the  lesser  larvae  of  the  hel- 
gramite,  or  dobson,  and  chasing  larger  minnows 
than  themselves  in  the  small  pools  near  the  shores. 

I  do  not  think  there  are  young  fish  of  any 

15 


THE    basses:     fres  h~w  ater    and    marine 

species  that  can  compare,  in  robustness  of  form, 
symmetry  of  outline,  or  sheen  of  coloration,  with  a 
young  black  bass  two  or  less  inches  in  length.  It 
is  stout  at  the  shoulders  and  of  unusual  depth  of 
body  in  proportion  to  its  length,  and  the  glint  of 
silver  that  comes  through  and  illumines  the  darker 
coloration  of  the  upper  part  of  its  body  is  con- 
stant and  beautifully  transparent  in  its  diffusion. 
With  this  stoutness  of  body  it  does  not  lose  in  grace- 
fulness of  contour,  for  every  line  is  symmetrical. 
The  spines  and  rays  of  the  fins  are  perfect  in  spe- 
cific anatomical  detail,  with  not  a  broken  or  marred 
tip  or  a  break  here  and  there  in  the  membrane  they 
support.  Its  external  anatomy  has  not  a  flaw,  for 
the  bass  is  a  young  Hercules  in  build  without  a 
lesion  in  strength  or  beauty;  with  compact  scales 
and  sturdy  muscles  it  is  the  very  image  and  build 
of  his  parents,  and  has  the  same  habits,  indomi- 
table courage,  voracity,  and  greed,  so  far  as  his 
growth  permits. 

Take  out  of  the  water  where  this  vigorous  little 
fish  lives  any  other  minnow,  except  the  young  cat- 
fish, and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  you  will  find  scales 
sticking  to  your  hands,  broken  spines  or  rays,  and 
often  bruised  noses,  with  a  rip  here  and  there  in  the 
membrane  of  the  fins.  Still  more  frequently  will 
you  have  them  flutter  and  die  before  the  tiny  hook 
can  be  taken  from  the  jaw.  The  young  bass,  al- 
though not  gifted  with  the  vitality  of  the  minnow 

16 


THE     HABITS     OF     THE     BLACK     BASS 

catfish  or  Ijowfin,  has  this  quahty  of  a  high  grade 
far  beyond  that  of  any  of  the  cyprinoid  or  carp- 
Hke  minnows  that  may  be  said  to  pre-empt  most  of 
the  lowland  streams  and  many  of  the  lower  reaches 
of  those  of  the  mountains. 

As  the  young  bass  passes  through  the  period  of 
adolescence,  there  are  no  repellent  organic  meta- 
morphoses in  its  life  or  body.  It  simply  grows  in 
strength,  vigor,  and  audacity,  and  when  mature 
these  inherited  qualities,  developing  normally  as 
they  grow,  give  us  a  game-fish  unequalled,  for  its 
size,  by  any  other  that  lives  in  the  fresh  waters  of 
the  earth. 


IT 


QUALITIES  OF  THE  BLACK  BASS 

Indigenous  and  Confined  to  American  Waters 

IT  has  been  said  that  the  black  bass  is  pre- 
eminently an  American  fish.  Of  this  no 
doubt  can  exist,  for  it  is  American  born  and 
bred;  its  industry  in  foraging  for  a  living, 
intelligence  of  resources  to  escape  capture,  and 
adaptability  to  any  conditions  of  environment,  be 
it  in  cold  or  warm,  fresh  or  salt  water,  are  traits 
that  bring  it  in  line  with  our  fearless  and  resource- 
ful pioneers  of  the  Western  wilds,  who  were 
"  plucky,  game,  brave,  and  unyielding  to  the  last," 
and  with  such  quahties  the  small-mouthed  black 
bass  is  fully  endowed. 

Weight 

The  black  bass  grows  to  a  large  size;  the  record 
for  a  small-mouth  caught  in  a  lake  in  Glens  Falls, 
N.  Y.,  is  eleven  pounds.  Several  of  eight  pounds 
have  been  taken  from  Lake  Ronkonkoma,  L.  I. 
These  were  all  small-mouths,  but  the  authentic 
maximum  weight  of  the  large-mouthed  black  bass 

18 


QUALITIES     OF     THE     BLACK     BA§S 

is  twenty-tiiree  and  three-quarter  pounds,  being 
that  of  a  specimen  taken  from  a  lake  in  Florida. 
Since  this  large  fish  was  caught  and  weighed  I 
have  been  assured  by  reliable  anglers  that  large- 
mouths  have  been  killed  on  their  own  rods,  of 
which  the  weight  was  within  a  close  call  of  thirty 
pounds.  There  is  nothing  improbable  in  such  state- 
ments, for  we  all  know  that  fish  and  other  ani- 
mals, under  conditions  of  abundant  food  close  to 
their  mouths,  are  likely  to  fatten  as  hogs  do  in 
the  sty. 

Edible  Qualities 

As  a  table-fish  the  black  bass  is  held  in  low  esteem 
by  many  and  highly  prized  by  others.  The  flesh  of 
the  river  bass  caught  in  the  summer  months,  when 
the  water  is  of  high  temperature  and  subject  to  fre- 
quent rising  and  falling  by  reason  of  freshets,  be- 
comes soft  and  has  a  muddy  or  earthy  flavor,  while 
that  of  the  bass  living  in  cold,  clear,  spring-fed 
lakes  is  sweet,  flaky,  and  juicy,  particularly  when 
broiled.  This  method  I  believe  is  the  only  proper 
way  of  preserving  the  excellent  flavor  of  the  black 
bass.  If  a  savorless  river  bass,  when  first  caught, 
is  placed  alive  in  the  running  water  of  a  spring- 
house,  and  allowed  to  remain  there  several  days 
to  purge  itself  of  the  contaminations  acquired  in 
the  river,  it  will  be  found  as  sweet  and  palata- 

19 


THE    basses:    fres h-w ater    and    marine 

He  as  a  mountain-lake  fish.  The  excellence  of 
Philadelphia  poultry  is  well  known.  Before  send- 
ing his  chickens  to  the  market  the  Pennsylvania 
farmer  coops  them  up  and  feeds  them  richly  for 
a  week  or  two,  that  they  may  gain  fat  and  be- 
come free  from  all  barnyard  taint.  I  have  read 
that  in  Germany,  the  execrable  carp,  so  popular 
as  a  table-fish  in  that  country  and  so  abominated 
by  American  fish-eaters,  is  treated  much  in  the 
same  way  as  the  Pennsylvania  farmer  treats  his 
chickens. 

Many  anglers  —  and  I  humbly  hasten  to  place 
myself  among  them  —  believe  that  fishing  for 
black  bass  is  more  enjoyable,  and  can  be  more 
frequently  indulged  in  without  palling,  than 
even  angling  for  trout,  for  his  big  brother,  the 
lordly  salmon,  or  for  the  acrobatic  leviathans  of 
the  Southern  seas.  The  only  qualification  of 
this  opinion  I  am  inclined  to  make  is  that  fly- 
fishing for  black  bass  in  running  water,  wad- 
ing as  in  trout-fishing,  must  be  understood  as 
the  special  factor  justifying  the  above  sweeping 
statements. 

It  will  not  be  amiss,  even  at  the  risk  of  repeating 
myself  from  former  notes  on  the  black  bass,  to 
state  more  fully  the  reasons  why  the  black  bass  is 
such  a  favorite  fish  among  anglers. 


20 


QUALITIES     OF     THE     BLACK     BASS 


* 


Strength 

The  black  bass  is  endowed  with  strength,  for  its 
size,  beyond  that  of  most  fresh- water  fishes ;  more- 
over it  seems  to  possess  the  intelligence  (or  an  acute 
development  of  instinct)  to  use  its  strength  to  the 
best  advantage  in  its  efforts  to  escape  from  the 
rod,  to  throw  the  hook  from  its  mouth,  or  to  sever 
the  gut  of  the  leader  by  getting  it  around  jagged 
and  sunken  rocks.  Frequently  it  will  sink  —  sul- 
lenly, as  it  were  —  to  the  bottom,  and  nothing  will 
dislodge  it  except  main  strength  and  the  utmost 
strain  of  the  tackle  by  which  it  is  held  in  restraint. 
All  the  devices  of  an  old  salmon-angler  will  not 
budge  it  from  its  lair:  the  throwing  of  stones, 
lashing  of  the  water,  knocking  on  the  butt  of  the 
rod,  even  the  jabbing  of  a  stick  at  him  unseen  in 
a  pool  (but  doubtless  not  touching  his  body),  have 
failed,  as  have  all  other  attempts,  to  make  him  move 
an  inch.  Nothing  but  a  steady  strain  sufficient  to 
overcome  his  strength  of  muscle  will  have  any 
effect,  and  frequently  even  that  will  be  only  tem- 
porary, as  under  such  conditions  the  bass  will  some- 
times move  but  a  few  feet  and  then  "  sulk  "  again. 
So  persistent  and  determined  is  this  action  of  the 
fish,  that  one  would  be  inclined  to  think  that  he 
evidently  braced  his  strong  pectoral  fins  on  the 
sides  of  two  stones  between  which  he  was  "  sulk- 

21 


I 

THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

ing,"  —  a  term  insulting  to  the  majesty  of  the  fish 
in  his  intelligence  of  resources  to  escape  capture. 

Leaping  Traits 

With  many  anglers  the  grade  of  a  fish,  when 
restrained  by  the  rod,  is  determined  by  his  practice 
of  leaping  from  the  water.  I  doubt  if  the  salmon 
of  the  fresh  water,  or  the  tarpon  of  the  ocean, 
would  be  so  highly  esteemed  as  a  game-fish  were 
it  not  for  their  leaping  qualities.  The  black  bass  is 
an  acrobat  by  heredity.  No  matter  when  you 
fasten  one  in  running  water,  he  will  sooner  or  later 
come  into  the  air.  I  have  known  them  to  leap 
from  an  eddy  on  the  side  of  a  rift  (they  do  not 
feed  in  strong  rapids)  and  alight  in  the  boil  of 
the  current,  and  fight  there  with  an  apparent 
knowledge  that  the  swift  down-flowing  water 
aided  their  muscular  efforts  to  escape. 

Of  the  many  fishes  in  American  waters  there  are 
to  my  knowledge  only  twelve  that  invariably  come 
out  of  the  water  when  they  feel  the  tension  of  a  re- 
straining line.  These  are  the  black  bass,  the  salmon 
(both  sea  and,  landlocked),  the  rainbow-trout,  the 
unspotted  mascalonge  of  the  Northwest,  the  gray- 
ling, and  semi-occasionally  the  black  spotted  trout 
of  Western  waters.  These  all  have  a  fresh-water 
habitat,  and  of  them  the  black  bass,  the  salmons, 
rainbow-trout,   and   grayling   are   the   only   ones 

89 


? 


'^^ 


QUALITIES     OF     THE     BLACK     BASS 

known  to  me  that  leap  into  the  air  on  a  slack  line. 
The  Eastern  brook-trout  (fontinalis)  seldom,  if 
ever,  comes  entirely  out  of  the  water  when  hooked, 
unless  it  be  pulled  out  by  the  over-zealous  angler. 
Of  the  salt-water  fishes  that  leap  there  are 
only  the  tarpon,  ladyfish,  Spanish  mackerel,  the 
large  kingfish  of  Southern  seas,  and,  strange  to 
note,  the  needle-fish  or  billfish  of  Key  West,  which 
is  the  most  skilled  acrobat  of  them  all  in  either  fresh 
or  salt  water.  I  have  seen  the  latter  fish  make  com- 
plete double  somersaults,  their  long,  slim  bodies, 
with  the  sheen  of  a  poUshed  silver  lance,  looking  in 
the  sunlight  like  a  palpable  thread  of  glancing 
white  light  in  the  blue  atmosphere  of  the  Keys. 

When  fish  leap  from  the  water  it  is  undoubtedly 
with  a  view  to  escaping  from  the  hook,  and  with 
many  of  them  the  leap  is  followed  by  a  vigorous 
shake  of  the  head.  In  the  case  of  the  black  bass 
the  shake  involves  the  entire  body  from  the  snout 
to  the  tip  of  the  caudal  fin.  The  leap  on  a  slack 
line,  which  is  never  made,  so  far  as  I  know,  by  the 
Spanish  mackerel  and  kingfish  (not  the  "  barb  " 
or  "  kingfish  "  of  Northern  waters) ,  is  an  evidence 
of  superior  intelligence  or  accumulated  experience 
(take  your  choice)  in  a  fish,  for  he  has  evidently 
found  that  it  is  practically  impossible  to  eject  a 
well-entered  hook  when  a  taut  line  holds  it  firmly 
in  place. 

The  black  bass  always  leaps  on  a  slack  line,  and 

23 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater   and    marine 

the  angler  frequently  thinks  that  the  fish  has  es- 
caped, as  the  line  loops  in  the  water  and  the  strain 
upon  it  is  no  longer  felt.  But,  presto !  thirty,  forty, 
or  perhaps  fifty  feet  away,  his  eye  catches  a  gleam 
of  bronze  and  brass  two  or  three  feet  above  the  sur- 
face of  the  water,  and  he  notes  with  delight  the 
aerial  flight  of  that  old  bronze-backer,  vigorous 
even  in  the  air,  with  every  muscle  in  action,  franti- 
cally shaking  its  body  and  almost  doubling  it  up 
in  the  frenzy  of  restrained  liberty.  And  just  here, 
sad  to  say,  comes  in  the  thrill  evolved  by  the  hope 
that  the  quarry  is  within  possible  reach  of  capture. 
The  leap  of  the  black  bass  is  always  directly  up- 
ward when  hooked,  and  he  generally  falls  tail  first 
into  the  water.  At  times,  however,  this  fish,  like 
the  trout,  will  rise  vigorously  to  the  fly,  and,  miss- 
ing it,  will  make  a  graceful  curve  in  the  air  ere  he 
quietly  returns,  head  down,  to  his  element.  But  as 
a  rule  the  bass  rises  fiercely  and  with  an  accurate 
aim  to  the  fly,  and  then  starts  instantly  for  his  lair, 
which,  when  feeding,  is  most  frequently  at  the  foot 
of  the  rift  flowing  into  a  pool,  or  just  on  the  edge 
of  the  rapid  in  an  eddy  made  by  the  swift  running 
water.  I  have  never  found  basjs  feeding  or  loiter- 
ing in  the  rapids,  and  this  is  not  easily  accounted 
for,  seeing  that  in  black-bass  water  the  chub,  large 
and  small,  are  always  found  in  swift  water.  An- 
other coincident  condition  is  that  the  chub  seem 
to  have  reaUzed  that  they  are  safer  from  the  rav- 

24 


QUALITIES     0*r    THE     BLACK     BASS 

ages  of  the  bass  in  the  swift  currents  than  in  the 
still  waters  of  the  pools.  I  have  noted  —  on  the 
Delaware  River  particularly  —  that  whereas  some 
twenty-five  years  ago,  before  the  black  bass  became 
sovereigns  of  that  water,  the  chub  swarmed  in  the 
pools  and  large  eddies,  at  the  present  time  a  chub 
can  very  seldom  be  taken  on  hook  and  line  in 
such  waters.  As  an  old  angling  friend,  resident 
upon  the  banks  of  this  great  black-bass  stream, 
expressed  it : 

"  The  chub  appear  to  be  stealing  up  the  river  by  the 
way  of  the  shallow  rapids  near  the  shores,  and  can  never 
be  found  when  the  bass  lie  in  the  deep  water." 

But  the  black  bass  is  not  to  be  cheated  of  his 
favorite  food,  for  as  the  shadows  fall  he  may  be 
found  lying  in  wait  in  the  circling  eddies  on  the 
edge  of  these  rapids,  and  woe  betide  the  hapless 
cyprinoid  that  chances  to  come  within  jaw-reaching 
distance  of  a  ravenous  bronze-backer,  or  within 
the  possible  compass  of  a  sudden  dash  into  the 
tumbling  water,  in  which,  however,  the  black  bass 
does  not  linger  a  minute,  returning  at  once  to  the 
eddy. 


25 


FEEDING-HABITS    OF  THE   BLACK    BASS 

jA  S  the  twilight  deepens,  the  black  bass  will  be 
/%  found  either  rising,  here  and  there,  to 
/  %  the  surface  of  the  deeper  water,  feeding 
"^  on  the  insects  that  fall  upon  it  (particu- 
larly the  gloaming-loving  moths,  which,  as  a  rule, 
swarm  near  and  upon  the  rivers  containing  bass), 
or,  in  the  shallows  along  the  shores,  making  the 
water  fairly  boil  with  their  dashes  into  depths  of 
but  two  or  three  inches,  chasing  the  minnows  ashore 
by  their  impetuous  rushes.  I  have  actually  seen 
them,  in  the  excitement  of  thus  feeding,  with  their 
dorsal  fins  entirely  out  of  the  water.  It  is  at  such 
an  hour  that  the  angler  meets  with  the  greatest  suc- 
cess with  the  rod,  and  it  matters  but  little  what 
feathers  he  uses,  or  how  inexperienced  he  may  be 
in  handling  them,  provided  he  makes  his  cast  at 
least  fifty  feet  in  length,  and  stands  in  deep  water 
when  casting. 

I  once  saw  a  black  bass  do  a  brutal  deed  that 
fairly  earned  for  him  the  title  of  "tiger,"  but  I 
doubt  not  that  such  actions  could  be  laid  to  the 
charge  of  many  other  fish.    He  had  chased  a  chub 


F  E  E  D  I  N  G-H  ABITS*OF      THE     BLACK     BASS 

of  five  or  six  inches  into  a  hole  between  the  stones 
of  the  side  wall  of  a  dam,  a  portion  of  the  body  of 
the  victim  protruding.  Mr.  Bass  swam  quietly 
up,  and,  selecting  the  softest  and  most  delicate  part 
of  the  chub  (the  belly),  dehberately  tore  out  a 
mouthful  and  swam  slowly  away  with  what  seemed 
a  pleasurable  flirt  of  the  tail. 

This  tiger-like  trait  of  the  black  bass  is  not  ad- 
mitted by  some  angling  writers  as  being  constant 
or  natural.  A  prominent  author  goes  so  far  in  the 
defence  of  his  favorite  fish  as  to  assert  that  it  is 
less  destructive  to  the  life  of  its  fellows  than  the 
yellow  perch,  pike-perch,  mascalonge,  trout,  and 
other  fishes,  and  bases  his  belief  on  the  fact  that  the 
teeth  are  weak,  closely  packed,  and  present  "  an 
even  surface  as  uniform  as  the  surface  of  a  tooth- 
brush. Such  teeth  are  incapable  of  wounding, 
and  merely  form  a  secure  surface  for  holding 
their  prey  securely."  Black-bass  anglers  every- 
where would  gladly  accept  these  words  as  gospel 
truths;  but  the  fact  remains  that  the  black  bass, 
hke  all  other  fish  known  to  us,  do  not  masticate 
their  food,  but  gulp  it  down  whole;  and  that, 
their  teeth  being  firm  enough  to  keep  their  prey 
from  sHpping,  the  strength  of  the  jaws  is  suffi- 
cient to  tear  out  a  bit  of  the  tenderest  part  of  a 
soft-fleshed  cyprinoid. 


27 


THE    basses:     fres h-w ater   and    marine 


Temperature  of  'Bass-Waters 

There  is  an  impression  existing  among  many 
who  are  interested  in  the  life-history  of  the  small- 
mouthed  black  bass,  that  they  thrive  only  in  clear, 
rocky,  cool  streams.  Their  lusty  life  and  rapid 
increase  in  such  rivers  as  the  Delaware,  Susque- 
hanna, and  Potomac  would  seem  to  negative  such 
a  statement.  True,  the  black  bass,  like  the  trout, 
is  ever  on  the  move  up  the  fluvial  waters :  the  latter, 
from  the  imperative  instinct  of  reproduction;  the 
black  bass,  I  am  led  to  believe,  simply  from  the  need 
of  new  feeding-grounds,  for  they  can  be  found, 
during  the  spawning-season,  on  their  beds,  in  a 
stretch  of  more  than  a  hundred  miles  on  the  Dela- 
ware River  in  the  month  of  June.  Moreover, 
and  again  as  to  their  thriving  only  in  cool  water, 
I  have  frequently  stepped  into  the  shallows  along 
the  banks  of  that  river,  when  the  water  produced 
a  sensation  of  heat  to  my  feet  and  ankles,  and 
yet,  then  and  there,  a  fly-cast  made  fifty  feet 
away  creeled  a  bass  from  water  hardly  more  than 
two  feet  in  depth.  In  the  shallows  the  degree 
of  heat  was  certainly  85°  to  90°  F.,  and  where 
the  fish  was  hooked  it  was  surely  not  less  than  80°. 
This  experience,  many  times  repeated,  was  con- 
firmed at  East  Branch,  Delaware  County,  N.  Y., 
at  least  200  miles  above  tide-water  as  the  river 


F  E  E  D  I  N  G-H  ABITS^OF      THE     BLACK     BASS 

runs,  and  where  the  small-mouthed  black  bass  are 
numerous  and  take  the  feathers,  soberly  dressed, 
with  frequency  and  avidity. 

Now,  there  is  a  peculiar  trait  of  the  small- 
mouthed  black  bass  of  that  section  which  I  have 
never  seen  mentioned  in  the  books  or  journals  de- 
voted to  the  subject  of  angling.  When  the  rail- 
road traversing  that  region  took  up  and  vigorously 
carried  to  success  the  idea  of  stocking  the  streams 
of  Sullivan  County  with  several  species  of  trout, 
great  fears  were  felt  by  anglers  that  the  black 
bass  of  the  Delaware  would  eventually  find  their 
way  into  the  Beaverkill  and  Willowemoc  and 
destroy  the  trout.  These  fears,  after  ten  years 
of  observation,  have  proved  groundless.  The  cold 
waters  of  the  above-named  rivers,  uniting  just 
below  Rockland,  seem  to  be  a  barrier  to  the  up- 
ward progress  of  the  bass,  although  there  are 
many  large  and  sufficiently  deep  pools  in  the 
lower  Beaverkill  in  which  they  could  live  and 
thrive. 

Leaping  of  the  Large-Mouths 

Much  has  been  said  and  written,  pro  and  con,,  as 
to  the  large-mouthed  black  bass  leaping  into  the  air 
when  hooked.  They  certainly  do  not  do  so,  even 
semi-occasionally,  in  my  experience,  on  waters  east 
of  the  Alleghanies;  but  they  frequently  come  into 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater   and    marine 

the  air  in  the  waters  of  the  Northwest,  and  several 
of  my  friends  who  annually  visit  Florida  solely 
for  fishing  tell  me  that  in  some  of  the  interior 
lakes  of  that  State  the  big-mouths  not  only  leap 
after  being  hooked,  but  do  so  on  a  slack  line. 


30 


BAIT-FISHING  FOR  BLACK  BASS 

Artificial  vs.  Natural  Baits 

DOUBTLESS  nine  tenths  of  the  bass 
fishermen  fish  with  bait,  artificial  and 
natural,  and  have  not  as  yet  reached  the 
higher  grade  of  enjoyment,  —  that  of 
fly-fishing.  Numerous  and  enjoyable,  however, 
are  the  methods  by  which  this  fish  is  lured,  particu- 
larly with  natural  baits,  the  latter  reaching  scores 
in  number.  But  no  artificial  lures  have  yet  been 
made  to  equal  the  attraction  of  a  live  or  even  a 
dead  minnow,  if  hooked  properly,  especially  if  a 
spinner  about  the  size  of  a  ten-cent  piece  be  placed 
on  the  line  an  inch  or  two  above  the  bait  fish. 

We  think  that  artificial  lures  of  any  description 
are  more  attractive  to  fish  that  live  in  running 
waters  than  to  those  which  inhabit  lakes  and  ponds. 
In  the  former  the  fish  are  forced  to  hustle  for  food; 
in  the  latter,  food  is,  as  a  rule,  more  plentiful,  and 
the  smaller  fishes  upon  which  the  bass  feed  have 
fewer  lairs  of  security  and  seem  to  use  less  activity 
in  reaching  them. 

31 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

Methods  of  Bait-Fishing 

The  methods  of  fishing  for  black  bass  with  baits, 
excluding  fly-fishing,  are  varied,  and,  I  think,  re- 
quire skill  in  luring  beyond  that  necessary  to  boat 
all  other  fresh-water  fishes  that  take  a  baited 
hook. 

Still-Fishing 

Take  the  apparently  simple  one  of  still-fishing 
from  an  anchored  boat.  In  this  style  of  fishing  the 
general  rule  is  to  strike  at  once  when  a  fish  plucks 
fiercely.  Not  so  with  the  bass ;  he  is  most  leisurely 
and  lazy  when  taking  the  lure  in  still  water,  mov- 
ing off  slowly  with  it,  generally  down  current,  and 
I  doubt  if  ever  a  bass  is  hooked  under  such  condi- 
tions except  by  chance.  One  never  knows  when  to 
strike.  Unlike  the  pike  or  pickerel,  which  take  a 
minnow  bait,  move  off  a  few  feet,  stop  and  appar- 
ently turn  the  minnow  and  swallow  it  head  fore- 
most, and  then  give  a  signal  to  strike  by  moving 
off  again,  the  black  bass  will  at  times  hold  the  min- 
now crosswise  in  its  mouth  and  go  slowly  down  cur- 
rent sometimes  200  feet  before  stopping,  and  even 
then  at  times  seems  to  be  toying  with  its  prey,  for 
it  is  frequently  found  that  striking  and  reeling  at 
that  distance  will  bring  the  minnow,  still  alive,  back 
to  the  boat.    This  is  a  daily  experience  on  the  upper 


B  A  I  T-F  I  S  H  I  N  G      ¥\>  R     BLACK      BASS 

waters  of  the  Delaware;  on  other  rivers,  where  the 
bass  are  very  numerous  and  shoulder  and  fight  each 
other  for  food,  it  seldom,  if  ever,  occurs. 

Casting  the.  Minnow 

The  most  admired  and  skilful  method,  but  the 
least  followed  on  Eastern  waters,  is  that  of 
minnow-casting  for  bass.  Like  fly-casting  it  can- 
not be  taught  by  description  or  diagrams.  Briefly 
and  rudely  told,  the  angler  stands  on  the  bank  of  a 
stream  or  lake,  or  in  a  boat,  with  a  rod  about  seven 
feet  in  length,  which  is  held  tip-down  three  or  four 
feet  from  the  body,  either  to  the  right  or  the  left, 
then  with  an  upward  swoop  brought  to  about  the 
height  of  the  head,  with  the  tip  pointing  in  the 
direction  of  a  rising  bass  or  where  one  is  supposed 
or  hoped  to  be,  the  line  running  free  from  the  reel 
until  just  a  moment  before  the  lure  strikes  the 
water,  when  it  is  stopped  by  the  thumb  of  the 
angler.  A  few  practical  lessons  on  the  stream 
will  soon  perfect  the  novice  if  he  has  the  material 
in  him;  if  not,  he  had  better  stick  to  his  still-fishing 
or  to  drifting  his  minnow  bait  down  stream,  with 
his  bait-bucket  fumbling  between  and  around  his 
legs. 

The  merest  bungler  as  a  rod-fisher  should  not  be 
discouraged,  for  black  bass  are.  frequently  caught 
without  using  rod,  line,^hook,  or  bait.    In  the  upper 

3  33 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

waters  of  our  large  rivers  there  are  many  mud  or 
grassy  flats  with  only  a  few  inches  of  water  on  them, 
sufiicient,  however,  to  float  a  small  flat-bottomed 
boat.  It  is  not  an  infrequent  occurrence,  when  one 
of  the  latter  is  rowed  at  night  over  these  bottoms, 
to  have  the  black  bass,  thus  disturbed  in  feeding  on 
such  fruitful  and  favorite  ground,  to  jump,  in 
their  fright,  into  the  boat.  In  fact  it  is  of  official 
record  that  on  three  consecutive  nights  one  person 
captured  by  this  unique  method  42,  132,  and  63 
fine  bass,  some  as  large  as  two  and  a  half  pounds 
in  weight.  The  most  sensitive  humanitarian  could 
not  object  to  this  method  of  fishing,  where  there 
is  no  live  bait  to  impale,  or  hook  to  extract  from 
the  mouth  of  a  captured  quarry. 

A  Tricky  Method 

A  friend  of  ours  has  a  tricky  way  of  luring 
black  bass  when  "off  their  feed."  He  hooks  a 
worm  in  the  centre,  so  that  when  he  puts  on  a  min- 
now the  ends  of  the  worm  hang  on  either  side  of 
the  head  of  the  fish.  His  theory  is  that  the  bass 
reasons  thus:  "That  fellow  is  going  off^  with  a 
prize;  if  he  was  not  in  good  health  he  would 
scarcely  have  such  a  good  appetite;  therefore  it 
is  evident  that  no  fisherman  has  played  tricks  with 
that  lusty  fellow,"  —  and  so  Old  Fin  goes  fiercely 
after  the  young  cyprinoid  and  our  friend's  basket 
is  made  heavier  by  another  fish. 

34 


B  A  I  T-F  ISHING      F©R     BLACK      BASS 

Chugging 

There  is  a  method  of  trolling  which,  slightly 
varied,  is  known  on  the  Niagara  River  as  "  chug- 
ging." It  is  alluded  to  more  particularly  for  its 
value  to  fishermen  when  first  visiting  an  unknown 
water,  as  it  enables  them  to  find  the  favorite 
feeding-grounds  of  the  black  bass.  A  heavy 
sinker  of  four  to  eight  ounces  in  weight  is  attached 
to  the  line,  and  about  three  feet  above  the  sinker  a 
gut  leader  of  three  or  four  feet  in  length  is  fast- 
ened, and  the  hook  is  baited  with  a  live  minnow. 
The  boatman  is  ordered  to  row  slowly,  and  the 
sinker  is  allowed  to  touch  the  bottom  every  now 
and  then,  the  leader  and  the  minnow  extending  at 
an  angle  of  about  45°  from  the  line  if  the  boat  is 
properly  and  slowly  rowed.  With  this  gear  you 
compass  the  lake  or  pond,  telling  your  local  boat- 
man (who  should  know  the  physical  character  of 
the  water  upon  which  he  guides  and  lives)  not  to 
neglect  passing  over  all  the  relatively  shallow  flats. 
When  the  pluck  of  a  fish  is  felt,  or  a  bass  taken, 
instruct  the  boatman  to  make  a  wide  circle  and 
again  pass  over,  as  near  as  may  be,  the  same  spot. 
If  upon  his  doing  so,  another  bite  is  felt,  circle 
once  more,  and  if  similar  results  occur  you  have 
found  a  feeding-ground,  so  anchor  and  be  happy. 


35 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 


Skittering 

"  Skittering  "  is  an  abominable,  fatiguing,  and 
(except  in  skilled  hands)  uncertain  method  used  by- 
residents  in  the  vicinity  of  lakes  in  the  northwest- 
ern part  of  the  Middle  States,  and  in  some  of  the 
Southern  States,  for  catching  the  large-mouthed 
bass.  It  consists  in  using  a  pole  from  twelve  to 
twenty  feet  long,  having  a  line  somewhat  longer 
than  the  pole  tied  to  its  tip.  The  fisherman  stands 
in  the  bow  of  the  boat  and  switches  the  line  and  bait 
(usually  a  frog)  to  and  fro,  particularly  among  the 
lily-pads  or  other  vegetation  along  the  shores.  As 
the  line  is  usually  somewhat  longer  than  the  pole, 
it  takes  an  expert  to  boat  the  bass  when  hooked. 

When  fishing  with  crayfish  for  bait,  the  angler 
will  be  greatly  pestered,  if  not  careful,  by  its  crawl- 
ing under  logs  or  into  any  crevices  it  may  find. 
Some  fishermen  try  to  prevent  this  by  breaking  off 
one  of  its  claws,  but  this  is  merely  a  partial  remedy. 
Others,  with  greater  success  and  comfort,  keep  the 
crustacean  well  in  hand  by  lifting  it  an  inch  or  two 
from  the  bottom  every  minute  or  so.  In  hooking 
a  crayfish  run  the  hook  in  under  the  tail  and  bring 
the  barb  out  through  the  back.  The  bass  always 
takes  the  crayfish  tail  first,  but  it  is  best  to  allow 
him  several  moments  to  swallow  it  before  striking; 
in  fact  this  rule  is  a  good  one  when  fishing  with 

36 


E.^ 


B  A  I  T-F  ISHING     F^R      BLACK     BASS 

baits  that  the  bass  apparently  gulps  down.  One 
exception,  I  think,  should  pi^evail :  black  bass,  while 
seldom,  if  ever,  found  feeding  in  the  long  and 
relatively  shallow  waters  of  rivers,  will  frequently 
be  found  just  at  the  tail  of  the  rapid  water  as  it 
pours  into  and  subsides  in  the  deeper  waters  of  the 
large  eddies  or  pools.  These  places  are  grand, 
fruitful  waters  for  the  angler  who  hooks  his  min- 
now through  both  lips  and  tosses  it  into  the  upper 
foam,  whence  it  passes  into  the  subsiding  current 
and  frequently  into  the  maw  of  an  awaiting  and 
hungry  bass.  If  the  angler  chances  to  fish  the 
deeper  and  quiet  waters  below,  he  hooks  his  minnow 
in  the  middle  of  the  back  and  allows  it  to  wander 
to  and  fro  in  mid- water  or  near  the  bottom,  having 
taken  care  that  the  hook  has  not  touched  the  back- 
bone, which  would  be  fatal  to  the  life  of  the 
minnow. 

Still-Fishing  and  Trolling  Outfit 

The  outfit  for  a  black-bass  fisher  who  still-fishes 
or  trolls  is  very  simple  and  includes  a  moderately 
stiff  rod  eight  to  nine  feet  long  and  weighing 
seven  to  eight  ounces;  a  No.  6  line  and  a  100-yard 
multiplying  reel;  a  supply  of  Sproat  hooks  from 
No.  4  to  1-0  tied  on  single  snells;  a  small  float 
or  cork  (if  you  can  permit  yourself  to  use  one  — 
I  cannot)  to  prevent  the  bait  from  bottom-catching; 

37 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

a  twelve-inch  landing-net,  and  a  box  of  lampreys, 
helgramites,  or  grasshoppers,  a  live-minnow  bucket ; 
and  a  dozen  single-gut  leaders,  three  to  nine  feet 
long. 

Mr.  H.  C.  McDougall,  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  a  few 
years  ago  wrote  me: 

"  I  have  demonstrated  to  my  own  satisfaction  that  black 
bass  can  be  attracted  to  the  boat  by  liberally  dropping 
fresh  earth  into  the  water  while  at  anchor." 

When  trolling  (an  abominable  habit),  when 
every  other  device  failed,  I  have  always  resorted 
to  a  trail  of  six  or  eight  of  the  largest  and  gaudiest 
lake  flies,  looping  them  on  the  leader  about  eight 
inches  apart,  being  careful  that  each  should  con- 
trast with  its  neighbor  in  coloration,  and  placing 
the  most  variegated  Dolly  Varden  feathers  as  an 
end  fly.  With  a  hundred  feet  of  line  out  and 
the  boat  rowed  slowly,  failure  seldom,  if  ever, 
comes  to  the  fisherman. 

In  trolling  with  such  flies  use  the  rod,  line,  and 
reel  I  have  described,  and  a  single-gut  leader  one 
size  finer  than  salmon  gut,  and  one  foot  shorter 
than  the  length  of  your  rod  down  to  your  reel.  A 
small  brass  swivel  should  connect  the  leader  with 
the  line,  to  prevent  the  leader  from  twisting.  The 
flies  should  be  tied  from  No.  1  to  1-0;  the  bodies 
should  be  larger  than  are  generally  made,  nearly 
as  large  around  as  an  ordinary  lead-pencil. 

38 


B  A  I  T-F  ISHING     FOF^   BLACK     BASS 

I 

Seasonal  Conditions 

In  the  opinion  of  many  anglers  backwardness  of 
spring  and  a  previous  severe  winter  improve  the 
fishing  chances  of  summer  for  many  if  not  all 
the  so-called  game-fishes.  The  reason  for  this,  in 
the  opinion  of  old  Waltonians,  is  that  the  severity 
of  the  winter  has  destroyed  the  larvae  of  many 
insects,  and  the  cold  and,  late  spring  retards  the 
spawning  of  the  cyprinoids  and  other  small  fish 
that  reproduce  their  kind  in  March,  April,  and 
May.  The  principal  food  of  the  black  bass  con- 
sists of  larvae,  matured  insects,  and  small  fish,  such 
as  the  daces  and  shiners;  hence  the  smaller  the 
quantity  of  natural  food  the  greater  the  eagerness 
of  the  fish  to  take  the  lure.  Be  this  argument 
fallacious  or  otherwise,  it  is  a  matter  of  experience 
with  many  old  anglers  that  late  springs  are  fol- 
lowed, as  a  rule,  by  well-filled  creels. 


39 


BAITS  FOR  BLACK  BASS 

THE  number  and  variety  of  baits  that  en- 
tice black  bass  have  never  yet  been  defi- 
nitely settled.  Certain  it  is  that  they  will 
take  any  living  thing,  small  enough  — 
and  sometimes  too  large  —  for  them  to  swallow. 
The  definite  size  of  a  perch  or  a  sunfish  which  a 
large-mouthed  black  bass  cannot  engulf  is  still  im- 
aginary, for  none  of  these  big-mouths  have  been 
found  choked  by  a  food-fish,  although  it  is  not 
an  infrequent  occurrence  to  find  the  small-mouths 
in  that  condition,  floating  helpless  on  the  surface 
of  the  water.  The  fins  on  either  the  sunfish  or  the 
perch  do  not  seem  to  bother  the  bass  very  much. 
If  their  prey  is  very  large  it  may  take  them  longer 
to  turn  and  swallow  them  head  first,  but  when  so 
swallowed,  the  fins  close  down  like  a  fan  and  sUp 
through  the  gullet  without  any  difficulty. 

The  Capture  or  Purchase  of  Live  Bait 

One  of  the  saddest  trials  to  many  anglers  is  the 
capture  or  purchase  of  the  most  alluring  baits.  If 
an  opportunity  to  buy  them  occurs,  one  is  apt  to  be 

40 


BAITS     FOR     BLACK     BASS 

charged  an  exorbitant  price,  sonfietimes  as  high  as 
three  dollars  a  hundred  for  live  minnows,  crayfish, 
or  lamper-eels,  half  or  more  of  which  are  apt  to  die 
before  the  fishing  day  is  over.  Personally,  how- 
ever, I  may  say  that  some  of  the  most  enjoyable 
hours  are  those  passed  in  the  capture  of  live  baits. 
It  fills  up  the  off  days  or  early  hours  when  the  bass 
are  not  in  a  biting  humor,  and,  best  of  all,  it  will 
make  one  independent  of  the  local  bait-peddler, 
who,  of  all  human  beings,  has  the  least  conscience 
anent  crime  within  the  law.  Live  baits  are  easily 
obtained. 

The  Lamprey 

First,  the  so-called  lamper-eel,  whicH  is  not  an 
eel,  but  belongs  to  a  very  low  order  of  water  ani- 
mals, having  no  bony  skeleton,  no  gills,  ribs  or 
limbs,  and  being  a  naked,  eel-shaped  creature  with 
a  sucker  mouth,  the  lips  of  which  are  fringed  with 
fine  hairs.  It  inhabits  the  fresh  water  of  rivers  and 
brooks  and  gets  its  living  by  attaching  itself  to 
other  fishes,  feeding  upon  them  by  scraping  off  the 
flesh  with  its  rasp-like  teeth.  They  are  usually 
found  in  the  mud  close  to  the  shores,  and  a  shovel 
is  all  that  is  necessary  to  capture  them.  Dig  deep 
and  throw  the  mud  upon  the  dry  bank,  and  search 
thoroughly  through  it  with  the  hands  for  the  wig- 
glers.  They  are  more  slippery  and  agile  than  the 
eel,  and  of  all  live  baits  the  most  difficult  to  impale 

41 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater   and    marine 

upon  the  hook.  A  dead  one  is  not  attractive  to  the 
bass,  but  —  to  the  bother  of  the  angler  —  very 
much  so  to  the  small  sunfishes  and  chubs. 


Catfisli 

The  small  catfishes,  which  are  favorite  baits 
with  many  bass-fishermen,  bear  several  popular 
Inames,  such  as  "  stonecats,"  "  mad-toms,"  "  black 
bullheads,"  "pouts,"  etc.  They  are  found  under 
stones  along  the  shores.  Take  a  hammer  with  you, 
and  on  seeing  a  stone  with  a  shelving  side,  no  mat- 
ter how  slight  the  angle,  strike  quickly  and  sharply 
on  its  top;  lift  it  up  at  once,  and  you  may  find 
underneath  it  one  or  more  catfish  from  two  to  four 
inches  long,  stunned  and  helpless.  Seize  them 
quickly  (avoiding  touching  the  spine  on  the  back), 
as  they  recover  and  disappear  almost  in  an  instant. 
This  bait  is  very  tenacious  of  life,  and  on  a  single 
one  as  many  as  five  black  bass  have  been  caught 
before  the  catfish  died.  This  result,  however,  is, 
in  a  measure,  owing  to  the  fact  that  in  many  in- 
stances the  black  bass,  like  many  other  fishes,  when 
striking  fiercely  at  live  bait,  and  sometimes  even 
when  they  appear  to  have  gently  mouthed  it, 
force  the  minnow  from  the  hook  several  feet  above 
it  on  the  line  or  leader.  A  satisfactory  angling 
diagnosis  or  explanation  of  this  peculiar  condition 
is  yet  to  be  mad,e. 


^ 


BAITS     FOR     BLACK     BASS 


Crayfish 

As  crayfish  frequent  the  bottom  rather  than  the 
surface  or  midwater  of  the  stream,  the  bait  should 
be  dropped  to  the  bottom  at  the  head  of  a  hole. 
When  the  crustacean  finds  a  hold,  it  will  burrow 
just  deep  enough  to  make  fast  either  in  the  sand 
under  a  cobble  or  in  a  crack  in  a  stone.  A  bass  evi- 
dently knows  the  meaning  of  the  little  pile  of  fresh 
sand  as  well  as  a  fisherman  looking  for  bait,  as  the 
fish  will  nose  out  the  crayfish  when  the  latter  cannot 
pull  it  out.  If  the  crawfish  is  fast,  the  first  intima- 
tion of  a  bite  will  be  when  a  fierce-looking  bass 
jumps  from  the  water  with  the  bait  in  its  maw. 

Many  fishermen  prefer  crayfish  to  any  other  live 
bait.  They  are  found  under  stones  near  the  shores 
of  rivers  and  brooks,  and  frequently  in  lakes.  It  is 
well  to  use  a  small  hand-net  of  fine  mesh  to  capture 
them,  as  they  are  quick  in  their  movements.  A  bet- 
ter plan,  however,  is  to  place  a  bait  of  decaying 
flesh  or  animal  garbage  in  a  piece  of  net  on  spots 
they  are  known  to  frequent;  they  will  gather 
around  it  in  numbers,  and  can  be  easily  captured. 

The  salt-water  shrimp,  preserved  in  alcohol, 
which  is  allied  to  the  crayfish,  has  been  found  very 
attractive  to  the  black  bass  of  Greenwood  Lake, 
and  doubtless  would  be  in  any  other  water. 

43 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

Dohson 

The  dobson  or  helgramite  is  the  aquatic  larva  of 
a  fly,  the  horned  corydalis  (Corydalis  cornutus), 
somewhat  resembhng  and  closely  allied  to  the 
"  devil's  darning-needle  "  or  "  dragon-fly,"  a  large 
well-known,  lace-wing  fly.  It  is  also  found  under, 
above,  just  below,  and  on  the  low- water  line  of 
rivers  and  other  waters  of  low  temperature.  Lift 
a  stone  quickly,  and  seize  the  animal  instantly,  for 
it  is  a  rapid  mover  and  disappears  in  a  trice.  It 
has  nearly  as  many  legs  as  a  centipede,  and  two 
nippers  on  the  front  of  the  head,  with  which  it 
often  seizes  the  hand  of  its  captor,  inflicting  a 
small  but  harmless  wound,  the  pain  of  which 
ceases  in  a  moment  or  two. 

Why  the  nomenclature  of  the  dobson  should  be 
so  suggestive  of  the  infernal  regions  and  his  Satanic 
majesty  it  is  hard  to  determine,  though  the  long 
antennae  or  horns  of  the  perfect  winged  creature 
have  something  to  do  with  the  vulgar  naming  of  a 
harmless  animal.  It  is  said  to  exist  for  several 
years  in  the  larval  state,  and  it  is  during  this 
period  that  it  is  suitable  for  baiting  purposes. 

The  varied  and  curious  nature  of  the  names 
assigned  to  the  dobson  has  no  parallel,  and  can  be 
accounted  for  only  by  the  fact  that  the  creature 
has  been  found  in  a  fossil  state  in  stratas  of  pri- 

44 


BAITS     FOR     BLACK     BASS 


meval  rocks  formed  millions  of  years  ago,  and  by 
the  supposition  that  its  nicknames  have  been  ac- 
cumulating throughout  the  ages  since  the  world 
began.  They  are  worthy  of  record.  Besides  the 
more  general  names  of  dobson  and  helgramite,  the 
larva  is  known  by  the  following  names  at  different 
points : 


New  Jersey 

Belvidere,  Black  crab 

Interior  points,  Crock 

Lambertville,     Water-gram- 
pus 

Tumble,  Gogglegoy 
New  York 

Broome  County,  Mollygrub ; 
Scrabble 

Fulton,  Andy;  Black  crab; 
Flying-crab ;  White  crab 

Milford,   Sand-crab;   Stone- 
crab 

Port  Jervis,  Clipper 

Schenectady,   Black   worm ; 
Flying-worm 

Schoharie,  Dragon 

Western  sections.  Alligator 
North  Carolina 

Raleigh,    Hell-diver ;      Red 
crab ;  Yellow  crab 
Pennsylvania 

Carlisle,  Ho-jack 


Flat-Rock  Dam  (Schuylkill 
River),  Clipper-bug 

Hanover,  Snake-doctor 

Hazleton,  Devil 

Honesdale,  Clipper 

Lafayette,  Stone-climber 

Monroe,  Hell-devil 

Perkiomen,  Crawler 

Pond  Eddy,  Ho-jack 

Portland,  Bogart 

Towanda,  Conniption-bug 

Tuplehocken     Dam,     Alug- 
mite ;  Hiltamite 

Wilkes-Barre,  DobsiU;  HeU- 
lion ;  Kill-devil 

W^yalusing,  Devil-catcher 
Virginia 

In   parts,   FUp-flap ;    Stone- 
devil 
Wisconsin 

Fox  and  Rock  rivers,  Dam- 
worm 

Janesville,  Crawler 


45 


THE   basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and   marine 

Minnows 

The  live  minnows  used  in  taking  black  bass  are 
of  many  species,  with  many  and  varied  local  names 
for  the  same  fish.  The  most  conmion  in  use,  and 
confusedly  so,  are  generally  known  as  chub,  shiner, 
dace,  silver  minnow,  golden  shiner,  darter,  etc.  In 
this  connection  it  is  important  to  remember  that 
black  bass  take  more  eagerly  any  live  bait  brought 
from  waters  that  are  distant  from  its  habitat.  The 
most  successful  method  of  procuring  minnows  for 
baiting  purposes  is  by  the  use  of  a  seine  not  less 
than  fifteen  feet  in  length  and  of  very  small  mesh. 
Such  devices  as  glass  minnow  traps  or  dip  nets  are 
not,  as  a  rule,  successful,  although  in  some  waters 
the  former  seem  to  be  fairly  effective.  Old  anglers 
who  do  not  care  to  spend  the  entire  day  in  fish- 
ing and  are  not  equipped  with  a  seine  delight  in 
catching  their  minnows  singly  on  an  almost  micro- 
scopic piece  of  worm  placed  on  the  point  of  a  midge 
hook.  On  a  shady  shelving  shore  with  a  light  rod. 
and  delicate  tackle  minnow-fishing  has  its  pleasures. 

Grasshoppers 

Grasshoppers,  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  are 
most  attractive  bait  for  black  bass.  They  usually 
abound  and  are  easily  caught  with  an  insect  net  on 

46 


BAITS    FOR    BLACK    BASS 

the  fields  adjoining  the  fishing- waters.  The  little 
green-backed  frog  is  also  used  by  some  black-bass 
fishermen.  They  are  caught  in  hand-nets,  but  the 
pursuit  of  them  is  often  tedious  and  tiresome. 
They  are  very  eif  ective  when  used  in  skittering. 

When  other  live  baits  fail  in  supply,  fishermen 
find  an  attractive  bait  for  bass  in  the  large  garden 
worms  called  "  night-walkers." 

It  is  said  that  our  German  friends  on  the  upper 
Delaware  use  bologna  sausage  as  bait  for  black 
bass,  thus  killing  two  birds  with  one  stone,  as  they 
draw  out  of  their  capacious  pockets  either  lunch  or 
lure,  as  their  appetites  or  the  fishes  demand. 


47 


IN   THE  MATTER  OF  FLIES 

In  Running  Waters 

THERE  are  times  when  the  black  bass 
will  take  the  fly,  particularly  in  running 
waters,  at  all  hours  of  the  day,  —  in  the 
glare  of  sunlight  nearly  as  fiercely  as 
under  a  lowering  sky;  but  these  occasions  are  very 
widely  apart.  I  never  fish  for  them  in  streams  until 
dusk,  or  when  the  day  is  very  dark,  and  then  I  use 
a  medium  size  of  fly,  what  is  usually  known  as 
a  large  trout  fly,  tied  on  a  No.  6  Sproat  hook. 
With  two  of  these  flies  dressed  in  subdued  colors, 
I  whip  the  head,  middle,  and  tail  end  of  pools, 
never  the  rapids,  although  I  have  caught  many 
fish  in  the  eddies  on  the  sides  of  the  very  swift 
water,  and  in  one  instance  had  a  bass  jump  four 
feet  across  a  little  rapid  at  my  flies  trailing  on  the 
opposite  side  from  where  he  was  lying,  perdu. 

In  Lakes 

As  to  lakes,  it  is,  I  think,  a  waste  of  time  to 
fish  broad  waters  for  black  bass  with  a  fly,  unless 

48 


IN     THE     MATTER     OF     FLIES 

you  find  shallow  ledges  of  rocks  where  the  water 
is  not  over  five  or  six  feet  deep;  and  if  less,  the 
better  for  your  outlook.  True,  the  bass,  lacking 
a  food-supply  in  such  places,  will  forage  near  the 
shore,  particularly  around  the  aquatic  vegetation 
in  the  little  bays,  and,  more  likely,  even  than  there, 
at  the  mouths  of  small  brooks  that  flow  into  the 
lake.  Under  such  conditions,  get  out  of  your  boat, 
put  on  your  wading-trousers,  and  approach  the 
spot  within  fifty  to  sixty  feet  —  black-bass  fly- 
fishing requires  long  casting.  Let  your  flies  sink 
an  inch  or  two,  and.  then  draw  your  cast  slowly 
in,  with  the  dropper  just  touching  the  surface 
of  the  water.  Should  you  see  the  swirl  of  a  rise, 
cast  instantly  into  it  and  let  your  flies  sink  at 
once. 

If  black  bass  are  caught  on  lakes  with  the  arti- 
ficial fly  on  a  bright  day,  the  occasions  are  excep- 
tional, and  the  fish  are  taken  only  when  cloud 
shadows  are  passing  now  and  then;  but  when  the 
gloom  of  the  fading  day  spreads  over  the  water, 
or  before  sunrise,  the  bass  feed,  and  at  such  times 
they,  like  all  other  fish  that  come  to  the  surface, 
will  take  a  trailing  lure,  be  it  of  feathers,  of  metal, 
or  of  Nature's  build.  I  have  caught  at  least 
twenty  species,  including  thirteen  varieties  of 
Southern  salt-water  fish,  with  the  artificial  fly,  and 
never  failed  to  lure  any  fish  to  the  moving 
feathers,  provided  the  water  was  clear  enough  for 


49 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

the  fish  to  see  them.     Even  catfish  and  suckers 
have  fallen  a  prey  to  the  artificial  fly. 

I  do  not  claim  that  black  bass  will  take  the  arti- 
ficial fly  in  preference  to.  the  spinner  or  natural 
baits,  although  I  have  known  instances  where  they 
did  so.  I  simply  say  to  all  doubters  that  if  fished 
for  under  the  proper  conditions,  the  bass  can  be 
taken  with  the  feathers  with  more  or  less  success 
in  all  its  native  waters.  Diff*erence  in  habitat  will 
affect  measurably,  and  in  limited  instances,  the 
habits  of  fish,  their  hours  of  feeding,  action  when 
hooked,  coloration,  and  (even  to  a  slight  degree) 
their  physical  structure;  but  a  hungry  bass  in  any 
water  will  seize  a  moving  lure  if  in  its  action  it 
approaches  that  of  a  Hving  creature. 

Choice  of  Flies 

As  to  the  choice  of  flies,  no  list  would  satis  ly 
the  craft  at  large.  Anglers  are  markedly  divided 
into  two  classes  —  the  colorists  and  the  formal- 
ists. The  first  have  an  intense  belief  in  the  color- 
dressing  of  a  fly,  and  some  of  them  go  so  far  as 
to  swear  by  the  minutest  and  almost  obscure  tints 
on  the  tip  of  the  wing  or  on  the  hackles.  The 
formalists,  on  the  other  hand,  discard  color  as 
of  little  value  in  luring,  but  insist  on  form  and 
manner  in  dressing.  They  argue  for  and  believe 
in  either  large-winged,  small-winged,  or  cocked- 

50 


IN     THE     MATTER     OF     FLIES 

winged  flies,  or  even  in  flies  with  no  wings  at  all; 
and  many  become  settled  in  the  conviction  that 
the  hackles,  palmer-dressed  or  otherwise,  are  the 
only  killing  bugs  for  black  bass. 

There  is,  however,  —  and  fortunately,  —  a  large 
class  of  black-bass  fly-fishermen  who,  when  at 
work  on  the  stream,  observe  the  conditions  exist- 
ing upon  it  and  fish  in  accordance  therewith. 
These  anglers,  as  a  rule,  believe  more  in  the  effi- 
cacy of  the  manipulation  of  a  cast  of  flies  than  in 
color  or  form,  not  ignoring  the  fact,  however, 
that  as  the  evening  closes  the  minuter  forms  of 
insect  life  gather  in  greater  numbers  over  the  sur- 
face of  the  water.  In  fact,  it  is  not  an  uncom- 
mon incident  to  see  black  bass  "  gnatting  "  in  the 
gloaming.  In  doing  this  the  fish  does  not  rise 
abruptly  to  the  surface,  but  may  be  seen  a  few 
inches  under  the  water,  and  when  a  "  no-see-um  " 
floats  down,  the  bass  comes  quietly  up,  with  only 
a  gentle  disturbance  of  the  water,  and  sucks  it  in. 

Standard  Dressings  Best 

It  is  safe  to  assert  that  all  the  makes  of  the 
standard  dressings,  tied  on  Nos.  4  to  7  Sproat 
hooks,  will  kill  black  bass  when  they  are  feeding; 
always,  however,  bearing  in  mind  that  the  closer  the 
action  of  the  artificial  fly  is  made  to  resemble 
the  struggles  of  a  drowning  insect  the  fuller  will 

51 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater   and    marine 

be  the  angler's  creel.  Subdued  colors  in  the  dress- 
ing of  flies  are,  I  think,  the  best,  and  of  these 
my  preference  is  for  one  of  which  body,  head, 
wings  and  feet  are  made  of  the  feathers  plucked 
from  the  brownest  of  turkeys. 

I  have  caught  black  bass  in  numbers  with  the 
ordinary  black,  gray,  and  brown  hackles,  and 
often  use  no  others,  except,  indeed,  when  the  fish 
are  not  biting.  At  such  times,  where  is  the  fisher- 
man who  does  not  go  earnestly  through  his  book 
down  to  the  last  feather,  hoping  against  hope  that 
this  or  that  bug  will  do  the  work,  until  he  has 
fruitlessly  spent  perhaps  half  a  day  in  whipping 
the  stream,  and  at  last  gets  hold  of  a  nondescript 
fly  which  has  lain  unused  and  unvalued  in  an  out- 
of-the-way  corner  of  his  fly-book  for  several  sea- 
sons. With  it,  then  and  there,  he  fills  his  creel, 
and  ever  after  swears  by  it,  brags  of  it,  and  be- 
lieves it  to  be  the  fly,  forgetting  that  his  ha^f- 
day's  unsuccessful  work  was  made  during  the 
basses'  off*-biting  hours,  and  that  his  infallible  non- 
descript chanced  to  fall  among  eager,  hungry  fish, 
who  were  ready  for  bug,  minnow,  or  gogglegoy. 

It  is  said  that  when  black  bass  are  gorged 
—  hence  "  ofl*  feed  "  —  a  red  ibis  fly  with  a  live 
minnow  on  the  hook  will  lure  them  if  anything 
wiU. 


THE  BLACK  BASS  AND  THE  TROUT 
COMPARED 

IT  were  idle  to  tell  the  trouter  —  whose  heart 
is  forever  pulsing  with  the  memory  of  a  fa- 
vorite mountain  brook,  which  babbled  all  day 
to  him  with  its  musical  echoes  from  out  of 
the  old  rocky  channel-ways,  singing  through  the 
chords  of  the  shouldering  pines  that  cluster  along 
its  banks  —  it  were  idle  to  tell  him  that  the  bass  is 
a  nobler  and  harder  fighter  than  the  trout.  That 
one  isolated  day,  when,  tempted  by  the  urgency  of 
a  bass-loving  friend,  he  cast  his  fly  upon  the  surface 
of  a  hundred-acre  lake  and  failed  to  get  a  rise,  set- 
tled the  question  forever  in  his  mind,  and  "  No 
Micropterus  for  me  "  became  the  fiat  of  the  moment 
and  the  text  of  his  future  angling  life.  It  is  not 
to  be  wondered  at.  He  might  as  well  have  tried  to 
shoot  salmon  in  trees  as  to  attempt  to  lure  the  wary 
black  bass  from  the  cool  recesses  of  a  lake  fifty  feet 
in  depth,  with  its  bosom  as  glassy  as  an  unscratched 
mirror. 

Perhaps  —  but  even  then  it  would  have  been  an 
exceptional  triumph  —  had  he  chanced  to  find  the 

53 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater  and    marine 

waters  ruffled  by  a  rippling  breeze,  a  bass  might 
have  been  struck,  which  on  light  trout  tackle  would 
have  tingled  his  blood  in  the  striking  and  taxed  his 
best  skill  in  handling,  and  our  angler,  like  many 
others  known  to  me,  would  have  soon  forgotten  his 
old  love  and  ardently  burned  for  the  new. 

Trolling  with  Flies 

I  do  not  pretend  to  assert  that  lake  fishing  with  a 
fly  for  black  bass  is  always  a  failure,  for  I  have 
caught  the  muscular  small-mouth  when  casting  and 
skittering  the  feathers  on  the  uncertain  bosom  of 
Lake  Champlain,  but  it  has  always  been  over  rocky 
ledges  and  at  the  mouths  of  inflowing  streams. 
Nor  do  I  deny  that  trolling  with  flies  or  allowing 
the  flies,  when  cast,  to  sink  two  or  three  feet  below 
the  surface  and  then  drawing  them  slowly  in,  is 
not  of  ttimes  a  killing  method.  But  —  and  alas !  — 
after  aU  it  is  simply  bait-fishing  with  the  fly  (your 
lure  goes  to  the  fish,  the  fish  does  not  come  to  it) , 
and,  as  such,  should  be  deprecated  by  the  true 
angler,  except,  of  course,  where  food  is  necessary 
for  camp  use,  when  the  spear,  the  net,  and  all 
the  contrivances  of  the  pot-fisher  are  permissible 
to  the  extent  only  of  the  demands  of  an  urgent 
stomach. 

Every  living  thing  inhabiting  the  stream  (the 
surface  bug,  the  mid-water  minnow,  or  the  bottom 

54 


<;3 


"^j 
^ 


BLACK  BASS  AND  TROUT  COMPARED 

creeper)  falls  a  prey  to  the  jaws  of  both  trout  and 
bass;  yet  of  the  two,  the  bass  is  the  more  deUcate 
feeder.  Time  and  again  I  have  caught  a  trout 
whose  mouth  was  widely  distended,  by  a  crayfish 
or  young  trout,  and  the  wonder  came  quickly  to  my 
angling  senses  how  that  trout  managed  to  strike 
and  to  be  hooked  by  the  fly  with  his  jaws  propped 
wide  open  by  his  half -swallowed  prey.  No  black 
bass  was  ever  caught  by  my  rod  when  it  was  in  such 
a  gormandizing  frenzy. 

Comparatively  few  anglers  fish  for  black  bass 
with  the  artificial  fly.  The  practice  is  one  of  rela- 
tively recent  date,  and  facilities  for  indulging  in 
the  sport,  particularly  in  running  water,  are  infre- 
quent, and  often  distant  from  the  large  cities;  yet 
the  charm  of  casting  the  feathers  for  the  bass,  one 
of  the  choicest  and  gamest  of  fishes,  when  once 
experienced,  grows  upon  the  angler  almost  to  the 
exclusion  of  any  desire  to  fish  by  any  other  method 
or  for  any  other  fish.  Old  rod-fishermen  say  that, 
as  a  regular  angling  diet,  fly-fishing  for  black 
bass  never  creates  a  surfeit  or  leaves  a  void  to  be 
fiUed. 

The  Tiger  of  the  Waters 

The  reason  for  this  is  apparent  to  any  one  who 
has  waded  along  and  cast  the  flies  over  a  mountain 

6S 


THE   basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and   marine 

trout-stream,  as  the  black  bass  in  rivers  and  brooks 
have  many  habits  identical  with  those  of  the  brook- 
trout  east  of  the  AUeghanies.  They  live  upon  the 
same  animal  and  insect  food,  and  may  be  found 
feeding,  like  trout,  in  the  shallows  and  at  the  foot 
of  rifts,  retiring  to  the  deep  pools  for  repose  and 
digestion.  At  such  times,  however,  they  are  in  one 
respect  like  the  trout:  they  will  not  take  a  lure, 
either  natural  or  artificial,  although  they  have  been 
seen,  under  like  conditions,  to  kill  young  fish  of 
aUen  species,  seemingly  from  the  love  of  destroying 
life,  tearing  bits  of  flesh  from  the  backs  of  sunfish 
and  then  sculling  away  with  what  seemed  like  a 
pleasurable  flirt  of  the  tail.  Hence  the  name  of 
"  tiger  of  the  waters,"  applied  to  them  in  some  of 
the  Western  States. 

Trout  will  gorge  themselves  to  the  lips,  taking  an 
artificial  fly  with  the  tail  of  a  minnow  sticking  from 
the  mouth.  Black  bass  will  purr  over  and  play  with 
the  minnow  bait,  and  sometimes  suck  it  in  tail  first 
and  then  spit  it  out  with  force,  sending  it  spinning 
three  or  four  feet  from  them.  It  is  practices  like 
these  that  perplex  the  bait-fishermen  when  fishing 
for  black  bass  in  the  large  and  relatively  quiet  pools 
that  occur  in  such  rivers  as  t&e  upper  Delaware  and 
Susquehanna,  where,  as  I  have  stated  in  a  previous 
chapter,  it  has  been  found  that  the  most  eff*ective 
way  of  hooking  them  is  by  paying  out  fifty  to  a 
hundred  feet  of  line  when  the  "  draw  "  or  gentle 

66 


BLACK  BASS  AND  TROUT  COMPARED 

pluck  of  the  fish  has  been  seen  or  felt.  This  method 
is  used  owing  to  the  erratic  manner  in  which  the 
black  bass  takes  a  live  minnow,  —  a  long  free  line 
and  great  patience  being  necessary  to  meet  its  vari- 
ous moods  and  to  place  the  hook  securely  in  the 
flesh  of  its  mouth  or  gullet.  On  the  other  hand, 
these  fish,  when  in  running  water,  particularly  at 
the  tail  of  a  rapid,  usually  take  the  minnow  head 
first  with  a  rush. 

Night  Sports  of  the  Bass 

Black  bass  often  disport  themselves  as  the  day 
closes,  like  the  trout,  by  turning  somersaults  in  the 
air,  and  on  favorable  nights,  when  the  twilight  lin- 
gers or  the  moon  shines,  they  may  be  seen  sporting 
and  lashing  the  pools  as  late  as  midnight;  in  fact 
I  have  had  them  jump  between  my  legs  when 
wading  and  fishing  for  them  in  mid-stream  at 
night. 

Because  of  these  habits  of  the  bass,  the  trout- 
fisherman  with  bait  or  fly  finds  a  duplication  of  his 
pleasing  experiences  when  angling  for  bass  in  flu- 
vial waters ;  and,  as  it  is  said  that  a  good  trout-rod 
handler  will  quickly  catch  the  art  of  successfully 
luring  and  handling  a  salmon,  so  also  may  it  be 
stated  that  he  will  soon  become  an  expert  at  black- 
bass  fishing,  with  the  additional  charm  of  the  same 
picturesque  surroundings  of  hill  and  rock,  of  danc- 

57 


THE   basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and   marine 

ing  waters  and  pellucid  pools,  that  await  him  on  the 
trout-stream. 


Haunts  of  Bass  and  Trout 

Black  bass  have  never  been  found,  as  have  often 
been  the  trout,  in  the  heart  of  the  rifts  or  rapids, 
but  frequently  on  the  edge  of  them,  or  in  the  cir- 
cling eddies  formed  by  the  back-set  of  the  current 
on  either  side  of  the  rapids.  True,  at  times,  the 
bronze-backers,  as  the  black  bass  are  often  called, 
will  rush  into  the  foaming  rapids  in  pursuit  of 
minnows,  and  have  been  seen  to  jump  into  the  air 
and  across  the  boil  of  a  narrow  rapid,  and  take  the 
fly  from  the  eddy  on  the  other  side  of  the  current, 
which  action  would  seem  to  indicate  a  repugnance 
to  entering  a  very  rapid  water  even  when  foraging 
for  food. 

It  has  been  observed  that  the  black  bass  in  rivers 
are  constantly  seeking  the  upper  waters,  their  range 
being  restricted  only  when  the  cold  spring  water 
is  reached  and  there  is  an  absence  of  deep  pools  in 
which  they  can  find  rest  and  comparative  protection 
from  danger.  This  disinclination  of  river-bred  bass 
to  enter  cold  spring  brooks  where  trout  live  has 
saved  the  latter  fish  from  extermination  in  many 
waters.  The  upper  range  of  the  bass  is,  no  doubt, 
induced  by  the  dearth  of  their  natural  food  in  the 
lower  waters,  a  condition  caused  by  the  over-popu- 


BLACK     BASS     AND     TROUT     COMPARED 

lation  of  the  latter  by  their  foraging  congeners. 
In  their  upper  migrations  they  wait,  like  the  salmon 
and  trout,  until  a  freshet  occurs  before  they  start 
up  stream,  and  they  have  been  known  to  loiter  for 
weeks  in  shallow  pools  rather  than  breast  the  shoaler 
waters  of  the  rifts.  On  the  other  hand,  they  have 
been  seen  in  schools  of  a  dozen  or  more,  swimming 
toward  the  upper  waters  with  their  back  fins  stick- 
ing out  of  the  surface  of  the  dark,  saffron-colored 
current  when  the  stream  was  swollen  to  near  high- 
water  mark.  At  such  a  season  all  lures  were  re- 
jected, and  very  often  the  most  unpropitious  time 
to  visit  an  otherwise  favorable  and  fruitful  pool  is 
immediately  after  a  freshet,  for  it  has  been  deserted 
by  its  old  inhabitants  and  the  incoming  migration 
has  not  reached  it.  A  rain  of  even  a  few  hours' 
duration  will  sometimes  affect  the  feeding-habits 
of  the  black  bass,  either  from  their  being  surfeited 
by  the  downpour  of  surface  food  washed  out  from 
the  banks,  or  by  the  fish  leaving  the  lower  for  the 
upper  pools.  Certainly  a  heavy  freshet  will  render 
barren  a  pool  that  has  hitherto  been  fruitful,  and 
just  here  is  found  an  additional  similarity  between 
the  habits  of  the  black  bass  and  the  brook-trout. 
Trout,  particularly  after  the  first  of  August,  are 
found  only  in  diminished  numbers  in  the  lower  pools 
and  reaches  of  the  brooks;  the  greater  number 
have  left  for  the  upper  waters,  but  not  from  the 
same  cause  that  induces  the  migration  of  the  black 


THE   basses:     fres h-w ater   and   marine 

bass.  The  trout,  impelled  by  instinct,  seek  for 
highly  aerated  waters  in  which  to  reproduce  their 
kind;  the  black  bass  are  hunting  for  better  forag- 
ing-grounds. 

The  black  bass,  like  the  trout,  will  live  and  thrive 
in  cold  spring  waters  that  are  landlocked,  if  born 
and  bred  there,  but  they  do  not  seem  to  enter  a  trout- 
stream  from  choice;  and  if  the  ponds  or  lakes  are 
comparatively  shallow,  as  most  trout-waters  are, 
the  black  bass  will  not  increase  in  numbers  or 
size. 


Migrations 

Another  similarity  between  the  black  bass  and  the 
trout  is  their  autunm  migrations.  The  trout,  after 
spawning,  fall  back  to  the  lower  and  deeper  waters 
to  recuperate  from  the  feebleness  caused  by  the 
reproductive  act.  The  bass,  after  the  extrusion  of 
their  spawn,  do  not  seem  to  be  enfeebled,  but  rather 
appear  to  be  endowed  with  new  life  and  combative 
vigor  to  defend  their  young;  and  at  about  the 
same  period  at  which  the  trout  seek  the  lower 
waters,  the  bass  also  begin  their  return  migra- 
tion, which  they  extend  in  some  rivers  —  notably 
the  Susquehanna  —  down  as  far  as  the  brackish 
water. 


BLACK     BASS     AND     TROUT     COMPARED 


On  the  Hook 

Similar  in  many  respects  as  the  trout  and  black 
bass  are  in  their  stream  habits,  the  resemblance 
ceases  when  they  are  fastened  to  the  hook,  and  their 
intelligence  in  the  uses  of  devices  to  free  themselves 
shows  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the  bass.  The 
trout  are  by  far  the  less  intelligent  or  ingenious 
in  the  arts  of  escape;  they  seem  to  rely  solely  upon 
their  strength  of  muscle  and  obdurate  resistance, 
showing  no  trait  of  the  resources  of  the  black  bass 
to  free  themselves  from  captivity.  The  black 
bass  are  gifted  in  this  respect ;  they  leap  repeatedly 
from  the  water  into  the  air,  and  frantically  try  to 
eject  the  hook  from  the  mouth  by  violently  shaking 
the  body,  —  not  the  head  only,  as  many  anglers 
assert:  they  cannot  shake  the  one  without  the 
other.  They  rush  around  deep-lying  or  outcropping 
rocks  in  their  efforts  to  cut  the  line,  and  go  down  to 
the  bottom  and  "  jigg,  jigg,  and  jigg,"  much,  as 
I  have  before  said,  like  a  dog  tugging  at  a  rope  held 
by  the  hand.  None  of  these  devices  is  resorted  to 
by  the  trout.  It  never  leaps  into  the  air  or  comes 
to  the  top  of  the  water  when  the  hook  is  fast,  unless 
compelled  to  do  so  by  a  strong  pull  on  the  line  by 
an  over-eager  angler.  The  black  bass  leaps  into 
the  air  on  a  slack  line. 

With  these  attractive  traits  it  is  not  strange  that 

61 


THE   basses:     fres  h-w  ater   and    marine 

the  black  bass,  pound,  for  pound,  inch  for  inch,  is 
considered  the  superior  on  the  rod  of  all  fresh- 
water fish,  and  when  taken  in  running  water  on  light 
tackle  and  artificial  flies  its  qualities  of  resistance 
appear  to  gather  strength  and  certainly  add  to  its 
chances  of  escape.  Anglers  who  fish  with  light  gear 
which  their  quarry  can  break  if  a  direct  strain  upon 
it  is  obtained  by  the  fish  feel  that  they  are  giving  to 
their  scaled  prey  the  same  chances  for  life  as  the 
field  sportsman  gives  to  the  quail  or  pheasant  which 
he  disdains  to  shoot  on  the  ground  and  will  fire  at 
only  when  on  the  wing. 

The  Angler's  Outfit 

The  outfit  for  fly-fishing  for  black  bass  is  very 
similar  to  that  used  in  trout-fishing;  the  flies  are 
often  alike  in  name  and  dressings,  but  the  feathers 
are  dressed  on  larger  hooks,  and  the  hackles  are 
generally  tied  well  down  to  the  bend  of  the  hook, 
in  palmer  or  bunched  fashion.  Many  anglers  use 
flies  that  are  too  large  for  fishing  in  running  water ; 
those  dressed  on  Nos.  4  to  6  Sproat,  and  generally 
called  "  large  trout  flies,"  will  answer  well,  and  the 
use  of  the  so-called  big  "  lake  flies  "  on  running 
water  has  been  discontinued  by  experienced  anglers. 

In  these  latter  days,  since  angling  tournaments 
have  been  held,  rods  are  built  with  more  backbone, 
but  without  increased  weight;  and  a  six-ounce  split- 


Playing  the  Black  Bass 


BLACK     BASS     AND     TROUT     COMPARED 

bamboo  fly-rod,  nine  feet  long,  will  kill  with  ease, 
and  in  ten  minutes  or  less,  any  black  bass  that  is 
apt  to  rise  to  a  fly  in  fluvial  waters;  they  seldom 
weigh  more  than  two  and  a  half  to  three  pounds. 
A  leader  of  single  gut,  six  to  nine  feet  in  length, 
that  will  lift  a  dead  weight  of  three  pounds,  is 
generally  used,  and  upon  it  are  tied  or  looped  two 
flies.  Thus  equipped,  with  the  addition  of  a  creel 
slung  over  the  shoulder,  the  stream  is  entered,  with 
a  long-handled  landing-net  to  be  used  as  a  staff. 


Fly-Fishing 

The  courses  of  most  of  the  upper  waters  of  the 
Eastern  rivers  alternate  in  rapids,  or  rifts,  and 
large,  comparatively  deep  pools  (ten  to  twelve  feet) 
locally  called  eddies.  At  the  head  of  these  pools, 
where  the  swift  water  subsides  into  the  deeper 
reaches,  and  all  along  the  stretches  of  the  river 
where  the  current  is  somewhat  sluggish  and  the 
depth  from  three  to  four  feet,  are  found  black  bass, 
particularly  when  the  sun  has  dipped  behind  the 
western  hills  and  long-drawn  shadows  are  cast  upon 
the  water.  The  density  of  these  shadows  is  peculiar 
to  many  sections  of  the  Eastern  States  where  bass- 
waters  are  found.  The  hills  are  almost  precipitous 
to  the  water's  edge,  and  their  thickly  wooded  sides, 
covered  with  deep-green  foliage,  intensify  the  dark- 
ness thrown  over  the  streams,  which  in  many  places 

63 


THE   basses:     fres  h-w  ater   and   marine 

are  not  more  than  a  hundred  feet  in  breadth.  With 
an  environment  such  as  this,  the  black-bass  angler 
who  uses  a  fly  will  always  find,  the  largest  and  gam- 
est  fish;  and  if  he  extends  his  outing  until  night 
closes  in,  his  creel  will  doubtless  be  filled  to  reple- 
tion, as  the  bass  rise  to  the  feathers  at  all  hours  of 
the  night,  be  it  moonlit  or  otherwise.  At  such 
times  they  seem  to  prefer  a  dark-colored  fly  to  a 
light  one,  and  the  similarity  can  be  explained  only 
upon  the  theory  that  the  fish  mistakes  the  dark  fly, 
as  it  is  trailed  through  the  water,  for  a  cricket,  upon 
which  they  are  in  the  habit  of  feeding  greedily  when 
they  can  get  them.  It  also  seems  to  prove  that  the 
sense  of  sight  in  the  black  bass  is  more  than  ordi- 
narily keen. 

The  method  of  casting  the  fly  for  black  bass  is 
the  same  as  that  used  in  trout-fishing,  although  the 
distance  cast  is  generally  longer,  because  of  the 
more  open  waters  in  which  bass  are  found,  and 
of  the  fact  that  the  form  of  the  angler  can  be  seen 
at  a  greater  distance  by  the  fish,  which  is  more 
skittish  and  more  easily  alarmed  than  the  trout  at 
any  unusual  condition  existing  on  the  stream  or  on 
its  banks.  Another  point  —  which  is,  however,  open 
to  discussion  —  is  that  many  anglers  for  bass  allow 
the  flies,  when  cast,  to  sink  two  or  three  inches  below 
the  surface,  believing  that  this  method  is  more  likely 
to  attract  the  fish,  as  they  are  not,  to  the  same  extent 
as  the  trout,  surface-feeders.    Again,  and  more  to 

64 


BLACK  BASS  AND  TROUT  COMPARED 

the  purpose,  the  main  attraction  for  either  bass  or 
trout  lies  in  the  Uf  elike  action  given  to  the  artifi- 
cial lure  by  the  manipulation  of  the  rod,  through 
which  the  insect  is  made  to  appear  to  be  struggling 
to  escape  from  the  water. 

Bass  Waters  near  New  York 

Near  the  city  of  New  York  there  are  few  waters 
where  bass  can  be  taken  with  moderate  success  by 
wading  and  casting  the  fly.  The  upper  reaches 
of  the  Passaic  and  Raritan,  and  the  lower  Ramapo, 
will  yield  their  quota  of  fair-sized  bass,  while  the 
outlet  of  Greenwood  Lake,  within  twenty  feet  of 
the  sluice-gate,  will  furnish  five  or  six  unusually 
game  bass  in  an  hour's  casting  when  the  flies  are 
thrown  above  and  on  an  old  eel- weir  which  is  just 
below  the  dam  of  the  lake.  There  is  also  quite  a 
good  pool,  for  three  or  four  bass  only,  below  the 
weir;  but  beyond  that  the  outlet  of  the  lake  is  too 
shallow  to  aff'ord  shelter  for  bass. 

An  unusual  method  is  sometimes  adopted,  es- 
pecially at  Greenwood  Lake.  It  is  particularly 
good  during  the  two  or  three  weeks  that  follow 
the  legal  opening  of  the  season.  Entering  Green- 
wood Lake  at  the  lower  or  southern  end  of  the  rail- 
road bridge,  which  begins  at  Cooper's  Station,  the 
angler  wades  out  loin-deep  and  casts  parallel  with 
the  shore  line,  and  continues  to  do  so  until  the  first 

5  65 


THE   basses:     fres  h-w  ater   and    marine 

projecting  point  of  land  is  reached,  where  he  turns 
to  the  left  and  follows  the  shore  about  a  mile  to- 
ward the  lower  end  of  the  lake.  A  dozen  or  more 
of  good  bass,  all  small-mouths,  are  usually  taken  in 
this  manner  with  artificial  flies.  In  the  early  part 
of  the  season,  the  big-mouthed  bass,  which  are  nu- 
merous in  the  lower  portion  of  the  lake,  seem  to  be 
absorbed  in  watching  their  young  on  the  stumps, 
or  otherwise  engaged,  as  they  are  not  found,  as  a 
rule,  near  the  shore. 

At  the  junction  of  the  east  branch  of  the  Dela- 
ware River  and  the  Beaverkill,  150  miles  from  New 
York  city,  and  all  along  the  first-named  water  to 
the  Hancock,  a  distance  of  about  twelve  miles, 
some  of  the  best  fly-fishing  for  black  bass  in  New 
York  or  any  other  State  can  be  found.  In  this 
section  there  are  scores  of  pools  and  long  reaches 
where  the  black  bass  swarm  and  rise  freely  to  the 
fly,  particularly  in  the  early  days  of  the  season. 
In  the  Oswego  River,  a  few  miles  above  the  city 
of  the  same  name,  can  also  be  found  good  fly- 
fishing. 


66 


THE  MINOR  BASSES  (BLACK-BASS 
FAMILY) 

Points  of  Difference  between  Bass  and  Sunfish 

THERE  are  four  additional  sunfishes  that 
come  under  the  general  and  common 
name  of  bass,  —  the  rock-bass,  the  war- 
mouth  bass,  the  crappie,  and  the  straw- 
berry-bass; yet  there  are  only  three  fresh- water 
fishes  (one  of  which  is  popularly  known  as  white 
perch)  that  are  classed  by  the  scientists  as  true 
basses  (Serranidce),  which  classification  brings 
them  closely  in  anatomical  similarity  with  the  Cen- 
travchidce,  the  sunfishes.  If  you  should  chance  to 
catch  one  of  these  classed  fishes  and  feel  uncertain 
as  to  its  being  a  sunfish  or  a  true  bass,  by  simply 
putting  your  finger  in  its  mouth  and  feeling  its 
teeth  your  doubts  will  vanish.  If  it  is  a  true  bass 
its  teeth  will  be  pointed  or  conical ;  if  a  sunfish  they 
will  be  slender  and  crowded  into  soft  velvety  bands. 
In  addition,  the  lateral  lines  of  the  first-named 
fishes  do  not  extend  to  the  tail-fin,  that  of  the 
others  touch  it. 

67 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater  and   marine 

Nine  tenths  of  the  above-named  fishes  that 
are  taken  with  hook  and  Hne  and  by  market 
fishermen  are  pan-fish,  although  the  rock-bass 
grows  infrequently  to  a  weight  of  a  pound  and 
a  half;  the  Northern  form  (and  occasionally  the 
Southern)  of  the  strawberry-bass  attaining  three 
pounds. 

The  Strawberry 'Bass 

There  are  two  species  of  the  strawberry-bass 
which  are  generally  considered  al  Northern  and 
Southern  forms ;  yet  the  matter  of  habitat  seems  to 
be  somewhat  confused,  for  both  species  are  found 
in  the  same  geographical  range,  the  calico-bass 
{Pomoooys  sparoides)  being  the  most  numerous  in 
the  North,  and  the  crappie  {Pomoooys  annularis) 
in  the  South.  No  fish  represents  so  forcibly  the 
confusion  apt  to  arise  from  numerous  common  or 
local  names,  and  from  the  fact  that  there  are  two 
distinct  species  living  practically  in  the  same  waters, 
similar  in  form  and  partially  so  in  coloration. 

The  Calico-Bass 

The  Northern  form,  which  I  have  designated  as 
the  calico-bass,  is  frequently  also  called  grass-bass, 
speckled  bass,  bank-lick-bass,  rock-bass,  lamplighter, 
bitterhead,  strawberry-bass,  paper-mouth,  barfish, 

68 


THE     MINOR     BASSES     (bLAC  K-B  ASS     FAMILY) 

strawberry-perch,  razorback,  flyfish,  chinquapin- 
perch,  lake  shad,  silver  bass,  big-fin  bass,  goggle- 
eye,  or  goggle-eyed  perch. 

The  Crappie. 

The  Southern  form,  known  very  generally  as  the 
crappie,  is  also  locally  called  bachelor,  New-hght, 
Campbellite,  sac-a-lait,  crapet,  tinmouth,  bride- 
perch,  chub,  speckled  perch,  John  Demon,  and 
shad.  It  must  also  not  be  forgotten  that  nearly 
all  these  names  a^-e  applied  indiscriminately  to  both 
species  of  this  fish.  Could  confusion  be  worse  con- 
founded? 

To  distinguish  these  two  species  at  sight  is  not  an 
easy  matter,  particularly  when  both  are  taken  from 
the  same  water,  possess  the  same  physical  condi- 
tions, and  live  upon  the  same  food,  which  so  affects 
the  coloration  as  to  lead  to  a  similarity  in  hues  and 
tints.  In  the  crappie  (Southern)  the  profile  is  more 
or  less  strongly  S -shaped,  the  mouth  is  very  wide, 
and  the  rows  of  scales  on  the  cheek  (a  space  back 
of  the  eye)  are  four  or  five  in  number. 

"  Color  silvery  olive,  mottled  with  dark  green,  with  dark 
marks  chiefly  on  the  upper  part  of  the  body  with  a  ten- 
dency to  form  narrow  vertical  bars." 

The  dorsal  fin  has  six  spines  and  fifteen  rays.  The 
calico-bass  (Northern)  is  a  much  broader  fish  than 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater   and    marine 

the  crappie  (Southern) ;  its  profile  is  not  so 
S-shaped;  its  mouth  is  not  so  large;  its  fins  are 
much  higher ;  the  dorsal  fin  has  seven  or  eight  spines 
and  fifteen  rays;  the  color  is  silvery  olive,  mottled 
with  clear  olive  green,  with  small  bunches  of  dark 
mottlings  of  irregular  shape  covering  the  whole 
body;  and  there  are  six  rows  of  scales  on  the 
cheeks. 

I  have  been  careful  in  differentiating  these  two 
fish,  for  of  all  species  living  in  inland  waters  they 
are  the  most  confusing  in  classification,  owing  to 
their  approximate  identity  in  habitat,  similarity  in 
color  and  markings,  and  the  strong  resemblance 
of  their  exterior  anatomical  make-up. 

Neither  of  them  grow  much  longer  than  twelve 
inches,  but  both  are  excellent  pan-fish;  in  fact  the 
crappie  and  the  calico-bass  may  be  called  two  of  the 
great  food-fishes  of  the  extensive  area  west  of 
the  AUeghanies.  On  many  of  the  Western  rivers 
and,  lakes,  whole  families  may  be  seen  on  flat-boats 
busily  engaged  in  catching  the  Campbellite  or 
lamp-lighter,  —  two  favorite  names  for  the  crappie 
and  calico-bass. 

The  crappie  is  not  so  choice  of  habitat  as  the 
calico-bass,  for  he  is  found  in  and  seems  to  prefer 
the  sluggish  waters  of  ponds  and  bayous,  while  the 
calico  is  seldom  seen  in  such  localities,  preferring 
cold  and  clear  waters,  in  which,  however,  the  crappie 
is  often  found.     I  have  been  told  that  not  infre- 

70 


THE    MINOR    BASSES    (bLACK-BASS     F  A  M  I  L  y) 

quently  one  of  each  species  is  caught  on  the  same 
line  and  at  the  same  moment. 

Both  species  are  caught  in  great  nimihers,  as  they 
bite  freely,  the  favorite  lure  being  the  hve  minnow, 
but  angle-worms,  crayfish,  and  artificial  flies,  when 
they  are  feeding  in  shallow  water,  will  fill  the  creel, 
even  if  the  fisherman  be  crude  to  the  core.  It  is 
on  record  that  two  anglers,  fishing  for  pleasure, 
caught  in  three  days,  on  hook  an^  line,  1,000 
crappies  weighing  from  four  to  twenty  ounces 
each. 

In  fishing  for  both  species  use  very  light  tackle, 
and  if  the  fish  runs  up  to  a  pound  or  more  Iiandle 
him  gently  and  give  him  elbow-room,  for  he  is  said 
to  have  a  somewhat  tender  mouth.  Their  first  surge 
when  hooked  is  quite  strong  and  somewhat  wild, 
but  they  quickly  succumb  under  the  strain  of  a 
taut  line.  Both  species  occasionally  reach  a  weight 
of  three  pounds. 

« 

The  Rock-Bass  {Ambloplites  rupestris) 

The  rock-bass  (which  is  also  known  as  the  redeye, 
goggle-eye,  and  red-eyed  perch)  is  one  of  the  most 
delicious  of  pan-fish;  its  lack  of  fighting  qualities 
when  on  the  rod  being  thereby  condoned.  Al- 
though its  first  rush  when  hooked  will  frequently 
deceive  an  experienced  angler,  who  is  apt  to  mistake 
it  for  the  wild  first  plunge  of  a  black  bass,  the 

71 


THE   basses:     fres  h-w  ater   and    marine 

contest  ends  then  and  there.  It  is  an  excellent  fish 
for  waters,  artificial  or  otherwise,  located  near  a 
household  of  fish-lovers,  as  it  will  thrive  in  most 
waters,  especially  those  having  rocky  bottoms,  and, 
as  our  angling  mentor,  Seth  Green,  once  said  to 
me:  "  It  does  not  take  a  dancing-master  to  catch 
them."  Light  tackle  and  almost  any  kind  of  bait 
—  worms,  minnows,  pieces  of  fish,  grasshoppers, 
and  artificial  flies,  or  even  a  small  trolling-spoon  — 
will  prove  effective  either  in  trolling  or  casting. 
Yet  these  bass  have  the  vim  and  the  courage  to  hold 
their  own  against  the  black  bass,  the  pickerel,  and 
other  predacious  fish.  If  you  have  a  pond  of  ^ve 
or  more  acres  in  area,  fed  by  springs,  put  in  fifty 
to  one  hundred  adult  rock-bass,  and  "  fish  on  Fri- 
days "  and  on  many  other  days  will  be  an  accom- 
plished fact. 

The  rock-bass  spawns  in  the  latter  part  of  May 
or  in  early  June.  In  weight  it  reaches  upward  of 
two  pounds,  sometimes  rather  more,  but  the  aver- 
age is  not  over  quarter  to  half  a  pound.  It  is 
nearly  as  prolific  as  the  sunfish,  to  the  family  of 
which  it  really  belongs.  It  is  a  handsomely  colored 
fish,  with  a  brassy  tinge  and  markings  of  yellow 
and  green,  with  a  dark  spot  at  the  base  of  each 
scale,  which  after  death  becomes  more  distinct,  giv- 
ing a  striped  appearance  to  the  body. 


72 


THE     MINOR    BASSES    (bLAC  K-B  ASS     FAMILY) 

The  Warmouth  Bass  (Chcenobryttus  gulosus) 

The  warmouth  bass  (also  popularly  known  as 
goggle-eye,  perch,  redeye,  sunfish,  and  bream)  is 
a  sunfish  that  is  shaped  very  much  Uke  the  rock- 
bass,  grows  to  a  length  of  about  ten  inches,  and 
seems  to  prefer  lowland  streams  and  sluggish 
bayous.  It  is  very  numerous,  however,  in  some  of 
the  shallow  ponds  of  the  Northwest,  and  is  abun- 
dant in  those  of  the  South.  As  a  fish  for  the  angler 
it  is  of  Uttle  importance,  and  for  the  table  equally 
valueless,  as  it  is  likely  to  have  a  flavor  of  the 
mud  bottoms  on  which  it  lives. 


73 


FLY-FISHING 

FOR  BLACK  BASS 
IN  THE 
SCHUYLKILL  RIVER 


r 


The  personnel  of  the  three  anglers  who  figure  in  this  little 
brochure  is  an  exact  portraiture  of  their  individual  social 
and  angling  traits.  I  fished  with  them  all  for  many  years. 
The  locality  is  a  stretch  of  the  Schuylkill  River  extending 
from  Royers^s  Ford  to  Yankee  Dam,  a  distance  of  about 
three  miles,  and  about  thirty  miles  from  Philadelphia.  Their 
fishing-box  here  described  stood  on  a  high  bluff,  overlooking 
the  Schuylkill  for  many  miles.  The  fishing  methods  of  the 
angling  trio,  as  recorded  for  each  of  them,  were  identical 
with  their  practices  on  the  stream.  They  were  bosom 
friends  and  had  been  so  for  years. 

WILLIAM  a   HARRIS 


\ 


FLY-FISHING   FOR  BLACK   BASS   IN 
THE   SCHUYLKILL   RIVER 

IT  was  about  five  o'clock  on  a  pleasant  evening 
in  June  when  three  anglers  stepped  out  of 
the  cars  at  Limerick  station  on  the  Reading 
Railroad,  rod-cases  in  hand,  and  creels  slung 
over  their  shoulders. 

A  fifteen-minutes  walk  along  the  railroad,  with 
the  Schuylkill  River  fifty  feet  below,  brought  them 
to  the  bluff  upon  which  their  fishing-box  was  built, 
and  a  winding  ascent  of  some  forty  feet  landed 
them  on  their  camp  grounds,  sheltered  by  the  pines 
from  the  sun,  now  fast  losing  itself  behind  the  foot- 
hills in  the  west. 

Throwing  his  traps  upon  the  grass,  the  oldest 
of  them  exclaimed:  "  Boys,  it 's  just  the  hour  and 
just  the  water  for  the  bass!  Hey,  Mendy!  did  you 
ever  see  a  better  outlook  for  good  sport?  " 

"  I  never  did,  Doc,  but  once  before,  and  then  it 
panned  out  bad  enough." 

77 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

"  How  and  where  was  that? "  cried  Gills,  the 
youngest  of  the  trio,  who  was  always  ready  to 
dive  into  anything  that  savored  of  paradox  or 
disputation. 

At  that  moment  their  man  hailed  them  to  supper, 
and  they  passed  into  the  rough  but  cozy  dining- 
room  and  did  ample  justice  to  a  plain  but  appe- 
tizing camp  meal. 

"Now,  Mendy,"  said  Gills  between  mouthfuls; 
"tell  us  about  that  mixed  experience  of  yours, 
when,  if  I,  understood  you  correctly,  the  conditions 
of  the  wind,  the  water,  and  the  weather  were  all 
first  class,  but  you  didn't  do  much  with  the  bass. 
To  be  sure,  it 's  rather  unusual  with  you  to  fail  in 
making  big  catches,  so  I  'm  more  anxious  to  hear 
about  this  little  one." 

"  Give  it  to  us,  Mendy,"  chimed  in  the  Doctor. 

"Well,  it's  a  pretty  tough  yarn,  and  I  don't 
think,  boys,  you  '11  believe  me;  but  it 's  true,  every 
word  of  it. 

"  It  was  about  this  time  last  summer,  and  I  was 
stopping  over  for  a  few  days  with  Jim  Bean,  who 
keeps  the  Pauling  House  at  Perkiomen  on  the 
Schuylkill,  and  I  had  a  rattling  good  time  with  the 
bass,  catching  about  twenty-six  every  day,  and  not 
one  of  them  weighed  less  than  two  pounds. 

"  After  fishing  one  morning  with  my  usual  suc- 
cess, I  laid  off  for  the  day,  on  the  principle  that 
*  enough  is  as  good  as  a  feast,'  when,  late  in  the 

78 


F  L  Y-F  ISHING     IN     THE     SCHUYLKILL     RIVER 

afternoon,  Jim  Bean  came  rushing  into  my  room, 
crying  out,  — 

"  '  I  never  seed  the  bass  so  thick  —  they  're  jump- 
ing down  at  the  dam  Uke  wildcats  on  a  frolic.  Rig 
up,  old  man,  and  tackle  'em.' 

"  I  could  n't  resist,  and  was  soon  on  my  way  to 
the  dam,  as  likely  and  lovely  a  stretch  of  fishing- 
water  as  ever  I  laid  my  eyes  on.  Sure  enough,  the 
bass  were  there,  and  they  all  seemed  to  be  on  a 
bender,  —  holding  a  wake  or  something  like  it;  for 
they  were  bobbing  and  jumping  in  and  out  of  the 
water  as  thick  as  whirligig  beetles  on  top  of  it.  The 
big  ones  seemed  to  act  lazy-like,  as  they  rolled  in 
and  out  like  porpoises  at  play,  and  the  smaller 
fellows  were  as  skittish  as  young  kittens.  They 
would  come  two  or  three  feet  out  of  the  water  and 
turn  somersaults  one  after  another,  and  I  swear 
bluntly  that  I  saw  one,  about  fifteen  inches  long, 
make  a  dash  at  a  swallow  that  swooped  down  after 
an  insect  fluttering  close  to  the  water.  Others, 
again,  would  swim  leisurely  along  in  shoals,  with 
their  dorsal  fins  sticking  out  of  the  water,  then  in  a 
jiffy  down  heads  and  disappear,  —  all  the  world 
hke  a  crowd  of  schooling  minnows  when  fright- 
ened by  a  splash  or  from  some  other  cause.  The 
river  was,  in  fact,  boiling  and  foaming  with  the 
antics  of  those  fish,  and  it  took  me  but  a  few 
moments  to  joint  my  rod  and  get  at  them. 

"  Now  comes  the  strangest  part  of  my  story.    I 

79 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

whipped  that  water  with  my  flies  for  more  than  an 
hour  and  a  half,  and  did  n't  get  a  rise,  much  less  a 
strike.  The  fish,  to  be  sure,  were  on  the  jump, 
and  would  come  out  of  the  water  every  second 
almost  in  droves,  behind,  in  front,  and  on  either 
side  of  my  flies,  and  one  old  rascal  swam  up  lei- 
surely to  my  point  fly,  eyed  it  in  a  sort  of  What-are- 
you-anyhow?  way,  then,  demurely  getting  his  body 
at  right  angles  with  it,  gave  his  broad  tail  a  sort  of 
contemptuous  flirt,  throwing  the  fly  at  least  three 
feet  to  the  left  of  the  spot  where  it  had  been  trail- 
ing at  the  foot  of  a  riffle. 

"  I  tried  the  pools,  the  rapids,  the  foam  at  the 
breast  of  the  dam,  the  quiet  water  below,  and  the 
swirling  rift  between  the  rocks,  but  all  to  no  eff*ect. 
They  would  not  touch  my  lures.  I  waded  out  on 
the  dam  to  midstream;  I  tried  every  bug  in  my 
fly-book  and  artificial  and  live  minnows;  I  let  my 
flies  sink  under  the  water;  I  skittered  them  on  top 
of  it;  I  bought  gogglegoys  from  a  bait-boy  and 
fished  with  them  six  feet  down  in  the  deep  pools; 
tried  garden  worms  in  a  great  bunch  as  big  as  an 
eel-bob ;  dipped  and  trailed  with  grasshoppers,  with 
a  young  toad,  a  little  sunfish,  a  juvenile  bullhead, 
here,  there,  and  everywhere,  but  not  a  fish  did  I  lure. 

"  Account  for  it,  boys !    I  can't." 

"  Well,  that  is  rather  a  tough  yarn;  but,  Mendy, 
you  should  have  tried  the  toodlebug-fly  before  you 
gave  it  up,"  said  Doc. 

80 


F  L  Y-F  ISHING     IN     THE     SCHUYLKILL     RIVER 

"  Or  a  live  mouse,"  put  in  Gills. 

"Yes,  I  dare  say  either  would  have  done  the 
work,"  rejoined  Mendy;  "  but,  joking  apart,  boys, 
did  you  ever  hear  of  such  an  experience?  " 

"WeU,"  said  the  Doctor,  "  Genio  C.  Scott 
tells  something  like  it  in  his  *  Fishing  in  American 
Waters.'  He  was  angling  for  trout  up  in  Maine, 
and  the  fish  were  jumping  very  lively,  but  would 
not  touch  any  of  his  feathers.  He  fished  for  an 
hour  or  so,  when,  observing  that  the  air  was  full 
of  gray  gnats,  he  tried  one,  and  then  and  there 
made  a  full  creel.  What  were  your  bass  jumping 
at,  Mendy?    Did  you  notice?" 

"  Pshaw!  Doctor!  "  indignantly  replied  Mendy. 
"  You  know  I  'm  up  to  all  such  dodges.  I  tell 
you  the  bass  were  jumping  at  nothing,  at  least, 
all  but  one:  he  went  for  a  swallow,  but  as  I  did  n't 
have  any  such  bait  in  my  box,  I  couldn't  try  it 
on." 

"  Mendy,"  said  GiUs,  "  I  can  back  you  up,  for 
one  evening  this  summer,  at  the  mouth  of  MiU 
Creek,  I  had  a  similar  but  not  so  elaborate  an  ex- 
perience as  yours,  and  I  have  long  since  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  black  bass  sometimes  jump  out 
of  the  water,  either  for  the  fun  of  the  thing  or 
from  some  other  cause,  probably  a  hygienic  one, 
unknown  to  us." 

The  camp  of  our  anglers  was  built  upon  the  edge 
of  a  bold  bluff  on  the  Schuylkill  River,  overlook- 

6  81 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

ing  the  best  fishing-grounds  for  black  bass  within 
fifty  miles  of  Philadelphia.  From  the  porch  on 
an  opportune  day,  faintly  cloudy,  warm,  and  misty, 
the  fish  could,  be  seen  fairly  roiling  the  waters  be- 
low, and  it  was  not  an  unusual  occurrence  for  one 
of  the  trio  to  slip  on  his  water  toggery  after  sup- 
per and  return  at  dusk  with  sufficient  black  bass 
to  supply  for  a  day  the  table  of  the  camp  and 
that  of  a  neighboring  farmer  over  the  hillside. 

The  personnel  of  the  members  of  the  club  was 
indicated  by  their  distinct  angling  methods  and 
their  belief  in  the  Doctor,  the  president,  who  was 
a  well-to-do  young  physician,  hearty  in  health, 
and  stocky  in  body  and  spirits,  with  a  jolly  "  How- 
are-you?  "  air  about  him  that  went  like  a  sunbeam 
into  your  good  graces.  His  angling  hobby  was 
expressed  in  his  belief,  loudly  spoken,  that  a  cer- 
tain bug  was  the  lure  of  the  season. 

"  You  might  catch  them  with  other  feathers,  but 
you  always  caught  them  with  this  one." 

It  is  a  fact,  certified  to  by  an  open-season  an- 
gler, that  the  eldest  of  the  club  was  heard  to  ex- 
claim, one  August  night,  during  the  camp-fire 
talk: 

"  *  A  worm  at  one  end  and  a  fool  at  the  other ! ' 
Ah!  old  Johnson  said  so,  did  he?  Well,  well!  it 
may  be  so;  but  just  tell  the  old  gentleman  for 
me  that  rather  than  not  go  fishing  at  all  I  'm  will" 
ing  to  he  the  worm" 


F  L  Y-F  ISHING     IN     THE     SCHUYLKILL     RIVER 

Gills,  the  secretary,  was  slight  and  wiry,  with 
the  nerve,  strength,  and  endurance  of  an  ox;  a 
ready  and  willing  hand  at  camp  chores;  a  me- 
chanical expert;  a  rod-maker  and  fly-featherer; 
and  a  practical,  observant  fisherman.  What  he 
didn't  know  about  fish,  the  scaly  fellows  them- 
selves didn't  know.  He  pinned  his  faith  to  the 
practice  of  allowing  a  fish  all  the  line  it  could 
draw  from  a  click-reel,  and  did  not  take  stock  in 
the  "  holding  hard  and  killing  quick  "  methods  of 
many  anglers. 

Mendy,  the  treasurer,  had  the  quaUties  of  good 
fellowship  and  intense  unreliability  on  the  subject 
of  fish  and  fishing  so  blended  that  you  were  apt 
alternately  to  forget  the  one  in  the  outcrop  of  the 
other.  For  a  moment  or  two  you  would  be  de- 
lighted and  the  next  appalled  at  his  daring  men- 
dacity, wondering  meanwhile  at  your  sufferance, 
and  still  more  surprised  at  your  condonation  of  the 
extensions  that  fell  from  his  lips  more  rapidly  than 
raindrops  from  a  storm-cloud;  yet,  with  it  all,  he 
was  an  angler  in  every  sense  of  the  term.  Strange 
to  note,  he  was  scrupulously  truthful  on  every 
other  subject  except  fish  and  fish-catching. 

The  midsimimer  evening  came  slowly  on,  with 
a  favorable  outlook.  The  rays  of  the  sun  still 
slanted  down  over  the  river,  with  here  and  there 
spots  of  shadow,  made  by  the  occasional  elms  on 
the  western  bank.     A  fitful  breeze  was  blowing, 

83 


THE    basses:    fres  h~w  ater   and    marine 

just  heavy  enough  to  ripple  the  pools,  and  way- 
ward enough  to  try  the  patience  and  judgment 
of  the  angler  as  to  when  and  where  the  most  likely 
casts  should  be  made,  in  which  dilemma,  however, 
he  was  aided  by  a  scud  of  leaden  clouds,  chasing 
each  other  just  above  the  western  horizon,  which 
were  sufficiently  dense  to  throw  transient  patches 
of  shade  upon  the  water. 

The  face  of  the  river  was  as  clear  and  its  depths 
as  pure  as  a  mirror,  vnth  a  rise  of  about  twelve 
inches  during  the  preceding  twenty-four  hours, 
caused  by  brief  but  heavy  rains  in  the  upper  coun- 
tries bordering  upon  the  water. 

It  is  an  amiable  specialty  (and  a  pleasant  and 
favorable  one  for  anglers)  of  the  Schuylkill  River 
never  to  get  roiled,  except  upon  sufficient  cause. 
To  make  it  so  requires  a  heavy  freshet,  or  a  con- 
tinuous rain  for  days,  and  it  was  often  noted  by 
the  club  that  the  lower  river,  below  Phoenixville, 
would  frequently  be  very  muddy,  while  at  the 
camp,  only  six  miles  above,  the  water  was  crystal 
in  its  color  and  purity. 

The  Doctor,  somewhat  afraid  of  rheumatism, 
was  the  only  one  of  the  three  who  wore  a  wad- 
ing-suit ;  the  others  donned  their  last  winter's  cast- 
off  clothing,  woollen  drawers  and  undershirts,  with 
woollen  stockings  coming  over  the  knees,  and 
Government  brogans  thickly  studded  with  hob- 
nails. 

84 


Fact  and  Fiction 


F  L  Y-F  ISHING     IN     THE     SCHUYLKILL     RIVER 

Gills  varied  slightly  from  Mendy  in  his  rig,  by 
having  on  a  pair  of  breeches  buckled  just  below 
the  knee-joint,  and  made  out  of  trousers  that 
had  done  good  every-day  service  for  a  year  or  two. 
The  Doctor  had  on  a  pair  of  fishing-shoes  made 
to  order,  and  fitting  loosely,  but  aptly,  as  the  chaf- 
ing of  an  ill-fitted  shoe  would  soon  scrape  a  hole 
in  the  waterproof  material. 

They  each  had  on  such  old  coats  and  headgear 
as  came  most  handy  to  them.  They  were  not  dan- 
dies, either  at  home  or  on  the  stream.  They  were 
hard-working,  earnest,  ardent  rodsters,  who  knew 
that  a  full  creel  meant  work,  and  skilled  labor  at 
that;  that  it  was  a  matter  of  muscle  and  nice  judg- 
ment; and  that  a  keen  eye,  a  quick  nerve,  and 
delicate  handling  were  the  essential  gifts  of  a  suc- 
cessful fly-caster,  and  that  these  qualities  did  not 
centre  in  the  foot  or  body  garb  of  the  wading 
angler. 

Every  fruitful  spot  or  likely  pool,  rapid,  or 
eddy^of  the  Schuylkill  for  a  mile  above  and  below 
camp  was  known  to  these  fishermen;  but  as  each 
place  was  changeable  in  its  outcrop,  there  was  never 
any  difficulty  among  the  members  of  the  club  as 
to  the  choice  of  grounds  when  they  chanced  to 
fish  together.  Indeed,  as  it  happened  on  this  occa- 
sion, they  would  angle  down  stream  in  company 
—  one  near  the  left  bank,  one  on  the  right,  and 
the  third  in  midstream;  and  it  wd-s  a  beautiful  and 

85 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

novel  sight  to  see  these  anglers  advancing  down 
the  river  like  a  line  of  skirmishers,  with  three  arched 
rods,  curling  lines,  and  lures,  spotting  the  lip  of 
an  eddy,  the  outer  curl  of  a  riffle,  or  the  quiet 
water  lying  just  beyond  a  baby  boulder,  with  a 
sort  of  automatic  precision  of  distance  and  move- 
ment that  was  as  wonderful  in  its  mechanism  as 
it  was  pleasant  to  look  upon. 

The  river  lay  about  sixty  feet  below  the  "  fish- 
ing-box," and  was  reached  by  a  path  which  wound 
under  a  culvert  built  by  the  railroad  company  over 
the  little  stream  that  glittered  down  the  ravine  to 
the  south  of  the  camp.  At  the  spot  where  this 
brook  plunged  over  the  rocks  into  the  river,  the 
bass  in  midsunmaer  could  always  be  found  feeding 
upon  the  small  dace  and  other  minnows  that  lay 
in  the  shallows  at  its  mouth;  and  it  was  here  that 
our  anglers  always  made  their  first  essay  upon  the 
bronze-backers. 

Having  adjusted  their  rods,  soaked  their  casts, 
and  in  other  diverse  ways  completed  their  bodily 
and  fishing  rigs,  they  started  for  the  river,  and 
in  a  few  moments  were  abreast  of  the  mouth  of 
the  small  stream  before  mentioned.  They  had  de- 
cided, before  starting  out,  to  fish  down  stream  in 
company,  but  as  Mendy  was  slightly  in  advance, 
and  the  spot  was  tempting,  he  made  a  cast  across 
the  widest  part  of  the  little  bay,  and  the  response 
came  quickly  to  his  army-worm  in  the  form  of  a 

86 


F  L  Y-F  ISHING     IN     THE     SCHUYLKILL     RIVER 

six-inch  bass,  retrieved  rapidly,  carefully  unhooked, 
and,  while  yet  alive,  deposited  again  in  the  river. 

The  members  of  the  club  were  not  pot-fishers, 
and  never  "  fished  for  count,"  albeit  they  were  not 
sticklers  as  to  numbers  when  caught  of  proper  size 
and  legitimately,  —  on  a  light  rod  and  a  feathered 
lure.  They  could  always  find  mouths  to  eat  their 
extra  catches,  both  at  home  and  in  the  adjacent 
village;  and,  knowing  this,  they  never  failed  to 
basket  every  good  fish,  being  aware  from  experi- 
ence that  only  about  once  in  many  outings  could 
the  bass  be  found  thoroughly  in  humor. 

The  Doctor  used  only  two  flies,  one  of  which 
was  that  peculiar  combination  of  feathers  known 
as  the  toodlebug,  and  the  other  was  a  gray  and 
black  hackle,  tied  palmer-fashion,  bunchy  and 
thick,  with  the  hackle  laid  well  down  to  the  bend 
of  the  hook.  The  toodlebug  is  always  used  as  a 
point,  tail,  stretcher,  or  end  fly  (all  anglers  know 
that  these  four  terms  are  synonymous),  as  it  was 
a  winged  fly,  and,  under  the  tension  of  the  cur- 
rent, approached  in  appearance  pretty  closely  to 
that  of  the  live  insect.  These  two  flies  were  at- 
tached to  the  leader,  always  nine  feet  long,  at  a 
distance  of  three  feet  from  each  other. 

Gills  made  his  own  flies,  and  rare  good  ones 
they  were.  He  used  three,  and  believed  in  bright 
colors  —  big  bunches  of  them  —  tied  on  a  No.  4 
Sproat  hook.    He  had  a  special  fly  which  he  swore 

87 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

by  so  long  as  the  fish  were  rising,  but  no  longer. 
At  such  times  he  had  a  dry  way  of  announcing 
his  belief  that  one  fly  was  as  good  as  another  — 
when  the  fish  had  stopped  biting.  His  cast  was 
made  as  follows:  hand-fly,  coachman;  dropper, 
black  palmer;   point  or  tail  fly,  big  Injun. 

In  this  connection  it  is  opportune  to  state  that 
the  club  decided  at  one  of  its  earliest  camp-fire 
talks  to  adopt  the  above  mode  of  designating  the 
flies  attached  to  the  leader,  —  what  is  generally 
known  as  a  "  cast  of  flies."  They  were  compelled 
to  have  a  uniform  nomenclature,  as  much  confu- 
sion had  been  created,  even  among  themselves,  by 
the  terms  "  first  dropper  "  and  "  second  dropper," 
which  many  anglers  use  indiscriminately  to  desig- 
nate alternately  the  middle  fly  and  the  one  nearest 
the  rod-tip, 

"  Heaven  knows,"  said  the  Doctor  one  evening, 
when  the  subject  was  talked  over,  "  there  's  enough 
confusion  already  existing  about  field  and  water 
sports:  such  as  conflicting  fish-  and  game-laws 
and  the  almost  hourly  changes,  by  zoologists,  — 
particularly  ichthyologists,  —  of  the  specific  names 
of  game-fish  and  game-birds.  Take  the  very  fish 
we  are  going  after  —  the  black  bass :  we  find  that 
within  the  last  five  years  he  has  been  a  gristies,  a 
Micropterus,  a  salmoides,  a  pallidus,  a  dolomiei, 
and  heaven  knows  what!  Do  let  us  try,  boys,  to 
get  at  what  we  are  talking  about,  so  that  we  can 

88 


F  L  Y-F  ISHING     IN     THE     SCHUYLKILL     RIVER 

understand  each  other  at  least,  on  this  cast  busi- 
ness. I  say  that  the  "  hand  "  fly  is  the  one  nearest 
my  hand;  the  "point"  fly  is  the  one  I  point  at 
the  spot  where  I  think  a  fish  lies ;  and  the  "  drop- 
per "  (for  want  of  a  better  name,  as  all  flies  are 
droppers  when  cast),  the  middle  fly.  What  say 
you,  boys?" 

"Agreed!  Agreed!"  and  the  matter  then  and 
there  was  settled..  May  all  good,  sensible  anglers 
go  and  do  likewise. 

Mendy  used  but  one  fly,  and  gave  the  following 
as  his  reason  therefor: 

"  I  have  never  caught,  except  on  rare  occasions, 
more  than  a  single  bass  at  a  time,  and  more  than 
once  I  have  lost  a  good  fish  which  had  taken  my 
middle  fly,  was  nearly  exhausted,  and  well-nigh 
landed,  when  with  a  splurge  and  a  quick  snap  an- 
other and  bigger  one  struck  my  point  fly,  which 
was  made  by  the  game  fight  of  the  first  fish  to 
zig-zag  across  the  current  more  like  the  struggles 
of  a  live  bug  than  any  simulated  motion  I  could 
give  the  artificial  one  through  the  medium  of  my 
rod.  No,  boys,  you  can't  catch  more  than  one 
good  fish  on  one  hook,  say  I,  and  I  '11  have  none 
of  your  triplex  casts." 

"  Bosh!  "  said  Gills.  "  I  Ve  caught  two  bass  at 
a  time  repeatedly,  and  if  there  is  a  grain  of  reason 
about  your  protest,  why,  the  more  danger  of  los- 
ing, the  more  skill  in  saving.     I  'd  like  to  strike 


THE  basses:    fres  h-w  ater  and  marine 

three  on  a  single  cast  —  two-pounders  each  —  this 
evening,  and  if  I  lose  them  all,  the  glory  of  such 
a  strike  would  last  me  to  brag  of  and  enjoy  for  a 
month,  if  I  did  n't  basket  another  scale  for  a  longer 
time  than  that." 

"  Boys,  hold  up !  "  interposed  the  Doctor.  "  It 's 
mainly  a  question  of  strength  in  your  tackle.  Look 
at  this  gut  out  of  which  my  leader  and  fly-snoods 
are  made.  It  has  stood  a  dead  strain  of  nine 
pounds,  and  no  two  fish  that  scull  the  Schuylkill 
can  get  that  much  out  of  it,  —  that  is  if  I  handle 
my  reel  and  rod  right.  In  fifteen  casts  in  forty- 
five  minutes,  down  there  in  the  little  bay  below 
Polly's  Island  —  you  can  see  the  place  plainly  be- 
tween those  two  maples  —  I  caught  nine  fish  that 
weighed  over  seventeen  pounds,  and  six  of  those 
fish  were  caught  two  at  a  time  on  just  such  gut  as 
this,  that  has  neither  a  flaw  nor  a  fleck  in  its  whole 
nine  feet.  Mendy,  you  are  wrong  for  once,  old 
fellow;  stick  to  your  miraculous  scores  and  hitch 
on  another  bug  to  that  mist-colored  leader  of  yours, 
which,  judging  from  its  look,  is  strong  enough 
to  hold  a  twenty-pound  salmon,  always  supposing 
that  your  hand  and  arm  are  at  the  landing-end 
of  it." 

"  Come,  come!  "  cried  Gills.  "  If  we  stand  here 
talking  any  longer,  we  '11  lose  our  best  chances  at 
the  bass.  Do  you  intend.  Doctor,  to  take  a  turn 
at  them  by  moonlight?    I  see  that  the  clouds  have 

90 


F  L  Y-F  ISHING    IN    THE    SCHUYLKILL    RIVER 

chased  each  other  out  of  sight,  and  we  will  have 
a  beautiful  night  and  a  full  moon." 

"  Yes,  Gills,  my  idea  is  to  fish  down  to  the  point 
of  Quail  Island,  take  a  rest,  and  then  give  them 
a  haze  *  by  the  light  of  the  moon '  on  the  way  back 
to  camp." 

"  Agreed,"  said  the  others,  and  the  three  anglers 
stepped  into  the  stream. 

At  this  moment  the  wind  freshened  and  whirled 
around  the  bend  of  the  river  in  fitful  gusts,  strik- 
ing them  upon  the  "starboard  quarter,"  as  the 
sailor  has  it.  This  induced  casts  to  the  right,  and 
called  for  a  strong  wrist  movement  in  order  to  lay 
the  line  well  out  athwart  the  breeze,  which  would 
sometimes  catch  the  flies  in  their  forward  cast  and 
toss  them  upward,  often  holding  them  there  sus- 
pended and  floating,  feather-like,  until  a  slight  lull 
would  land  them  gently  as  a  snowflake  falling 
upon  the  ruffled  river. 

The  Doctor  was  to  wade  straight  across  the 
stream,  some  200  feet  wide,  to  fish  its  right  bank; 
Gills  took  the  left  side,  and  Mendy  chose  mid- 
stream. 

To  a  rod  expert  the  direction  and  wayward  na- 
ture of  the  wind  was  nervy  and  exciting.  To  a 
bungler  it  was  confusion  and  failure.  But  the 
Doctor  was  a  master.  Holding  the  rod  in  his  right 
hand,  just  above  the  reel,  with  the  thumb  extended 
and  the  fingers  closely  but  not  rigidly  clasped,  his 

91 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater   and    marine 

cast  of  flies  being  held  meantime  in  his  left  hand, 
and  the  rod  being  nearly  perpendicular,  by  an  ap- 
preciable movement  of  the  wrist  from  left  to  right 
he  gave  the  tip  of  his  rod  a  flirt,  and  the  line  and 
leader  curled  backward,  lengthening  out  behind 
him.  Then,  without  a  turn  of  the  eye  (it  was 
intuition  that  told  him  that  his  rear  cast  was 
ended),  he  reversed  the  movement  of  the  wrist, 
springing  the  rod  to  the  front,  and  the  flies,  quiv- 
ering, fell  within  an  inch  of  the  spot  which  his 
judgment  had  told  him  was  a  likely  one. 

The  Doctor  ignored  the  traditionary  teachings 
of  the  craft,  by  his  disbelief  in  the  "  forty-five 
degree  "  angle  doctrine. 

"  Herbert,  Morris,  Scott,  and  the  rest  of  them," 
he  once  said  during  a  camp-fire  talk,  "  may  have 
found  it  all  right;  but,  boys,  I  think  that  many  of 
our  angling  lessons,  as  taught  in  the  books,  are 
laid  down  on  the  principle  of  foUow-your-leader. 
Walton  led,  and  the  crowd  of  moderns  followed. 
Take  this  '  angle  of  forty-five  degrees '  in  hand 
and  put  it  in  practice.  Nine  times  out  of  ten  your 
backward  cast  of  fifty  feet  will  plump  your  flies, 
when  handled  on  a  ten-foot  rod,  into  the  water 
behind  you.  And  in  the  forward  cast,  with  your 
rod  at  that  angle,  ten  to  one  you  will  recover  it, 
at  least  twenty  degrees,  in  order  to  prevent  the 
line  looping  and  falling  with  a  great  splash  into 
the  water  before  your  flies  touch  it. 

92 


F  L  Y-F  ISHING    IN    THE    SCHUYLKILL    RIVER 

"  No,  no,  boys,"  he  continued,  "  the  whole  mat- 
ter lies  in  the  nervy  wrist  movement,  with  the  clear 
brain  and  the  loving  heart  behind  it.  Mendy, 
neither  you  nor  Gills  can  tell  me  how  you  give 
that  effective  quivering  motion  to  your  rod.  A 
turn  of  the  wrist,  say  you!  Bosh!  say  I.  Your 
brain  wiUs  it,  and  the  motive  power  goes  right 
down  that  good  right  arm  of  yours  into  the  wrist, 
and  then  up  and  out  that  split  bamboo,  through 
each  thread  of  your  braided  line,  until  it  culmi- 
nates in  the  point  fly;  not  ending  even  there,  I 
sometimes  think,  but  rather  in  the  tough  upper  lip 
of  the  bass,  as  you  strike  him." 

"  Doc  is  off!  Not  a  word,,  Mendy,  or  else  he  '11 
play  this  tune  for  an  hour  or  two,"  said  Gills. 

"  This  '  forty-five  degree  '  theory  is  all  very  well, 
boys,"  continued  the  Doctor,  "  on  a  trout-stream 
overhung  with  brush  or  forest  growth;  that  is,  if 
the  same  angle  of  the  rod  is  used  twice  the  same 
day  on  such  water  (which  I  doubt),  where  you  are 
forced  to  use  a  twenty-foot  cast,  and  to  sweep  it 
ofttimes  parallel  to  the  surface  of  the  stream,  or, 
as  I  once  saw  a  green  one  do,  to  loop  your  line 
into  a  roll  like  a  sailor's  heaving-line,  and  toss  it 
into  the  foam  of  a  rapid,  hoping  that  the  current 
would  land  it  in  a  pool  where  *  a  big  trout '  should 
lurk  if  he  knows  himself  well.  Don't  look  so  skep- 
tical, Mendy.  I  'm  in  earnest  about  this,  and  I 
repeat  that  no  man  can  ever  be  a  fly-fisher  unless 

93 


THE    basses:    fres  h~w  ater   and    marine 

his  heart  aids  his  brain  and  muscles.  Take  Tuck 
for  an  example.  You  both  know  him.  His  head 
is  clear  on  all  anghng  points,  and  his  fingers  are 
deft  at  dressing  a  fly.  He  is  full  of  effective  pros 
and  cons.  He  has  got  the  wrist  movement  down 
to  a  turn,  and  can  show  it  beautifully  on  a  broom- 
stick or  cane;  but  the  knack  leaves  him  just  as 
soon  as  he  steps  into  the  stream,  and  his  flies  fall 
kerslosh  —  all  in  a  bunch  —  when  he  attempts  to 
cast;  and  with  all  this  he  can  talk  us  all  adrift 
about  how  to  do  it;  yet  yoii  both  know  that  he  is 
the  veriest  bungler  that  ever  worried  a  pool. 
What's  the  reason?  Simply  this:  The  man  has 
gone  into  angling  just  as  a  swell  goes  into  a  club. 
It 's  the  thing,  you  know!  But  his  heart  is  not  in 
it,  and  his  nerves  and  muscles  have  n't  got  enough 
loving  electricity  about  them." 

It  was  now  about  half -past  six,  and  the  sun  still 
shone  over  the  river,  except  on  the  right  bank, 
where  it  was  shaded  by  a  dense  growth  of  trees; 
hence  the  Doctor  had  the  advantage  of  position. 
Mendy,  in  the  middle  of  the  stream,  had  a  show 
at  the  edge  of  the  shadows,  while  Gills  fished  in 
the  broad  glare,  yet  aided  materially  by  the  scurry- 
ing gusts  that  swept  the  surface  of  the  pools. 

Across  the  river,  starting  at  the  point  at  which 
the  three  anglers  entered  it,  a  line  of  rocks  ex- 
tended, which  at  half -stage  of  the  stream  were 

94 


F  L  y-F  ISHING    IN    THE    SCHUYLKILL    RIVER 

covered  with  water,  except  at  intervals  of  about 
twenty  feet,  where  the  water  swept  between  them, 
making  a  series  of  swift  currents  that  swirled  down 
stream  for  some  distance.  At  the  tail  of  these 
channel-ways,  and  in  the  still  water  and  the  curl 
of  the  eddies  behind  the  protruding  rocks,  experi- 
ence told  our  friends  were  Ukely  places  for  the 
bass  to  He. 

"  The  largest  black  bass  that  ever  struck  my 
fly,"  said  the  Doctor,  "  did  so  at  Flat  Rock  Dam. 
You  know  the  spot  well.  Gills,  for  we  have  had 
some  glorious  sport  together  at  the  dam,  and  Tuck 
once  told  me  that  he  believed  you  knew  each  peb- 
ble at  the  bottom  of  those  pools  by  its  front  name; 
and  you  too,  Mendy,  as  I  remember  you  flushed 
and  worried  over  your  maiden  eff^ort  at  fly-casting 
some  ten  years  ago,  standing  on  that  big  rock  that 
reaches  a  line  level  with  the  breastwork  of  this 
same  dam.  Well,  my  mammoth  bass  —  it  must 
have  been  a  four-pounder  —  rose  to  my  point  fly  in 
the  rush  of  that  surging  rapid,  the  water  of  which 
came  dashing  over  the  end  of  the  rocks  of  the  big 
pool  just  below  the  dam  on  the  eastern  side  of 
the  river,  the  half  of  which  is  jammed  by  the  rocks 
and  the  bank  into  a  space  not  more  than  ten  feet 
wide,  making  a  rapid  for  about  twenty-five  feet. 

"  I  had  alternately  waded  and  jumped  from  rock 
to  rock  until  I  reached  the  shallows  in  midstream, 
then  waded  down,  with  ankles  scarcely  covered, 

95 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

to  the  old  boulder  that  stands,  sentinel-like,  on  the 
upper  and  western  side  of  this  rapid  I  speak  of. 
Climbing  up,  I  perched  myself  on  the  extreme  top 
of  the  rock,  un jointed  my  limbs,  and  stretched 
them  out  with  a  feeling  of  comfortable  ease  and 
unrestraint  to  be  appreciated  only  by  a  wading 
fisherman  who  for  some  hours  has  been  feet- fum- 
bling on  the  stony  and  uneven  bed  of  a  river  which 
is  made  up  of  deep  holes  and  a  ten-horse-power 
current. 

"  After  resting  a  moment  or  two  I  arranged 
my  cast,  intending  to  whip  the  eddies  made  by 
the  boiling  waters  on  the  lower  edges  of  the  rapid. 
I  had  never  as  yet  had  any  luck  in  the  strength 
of  a  stream  such  as  this,  and  wisely,  I  thought 
then,  chose  the  sides  and  tail  end  of  it.  I  looped 
on  a  large  point  fly,  to  which,  in  the  paucity  of  my 
knowledge  of  the  names  of  flies  then  as  now,  I 
had  given  the  name  of  hornet.  You  will  remember 
it,  Gills,  if  you  can  recall  our  last  trip  to  Perkio- 
men  Dam,  when  we  saw  the  hornets  flying  around 
us,  and  occasionally  falling  into  the  water,  where  the 
eager  bass  soon  m.ade  use  of  them.  You  will,  per- 
haps, remember  that  we  also  made  use  of  a  tolerable 
imitation,  a  golden  and  brown  bug  we  found  in  our 
fly-books.  Well,  I  put  on  the  same  fly  on  this  occa- 
sion, and  a  big  gray  hackle  along  with  it. 

"  Tossing  my  line  carelessly  into  the  current, 
more  for  the  purpose  of  getting  the  kinks  out  of 

96 


F  L  Y-F  ISHING    IN    THE    SCHUYLKILL    RIVER 

the  leader  than  with  the  thought  of  a  fish  rising 
to  the  flies,  to  my  astonishment  I  saw  a  black  bass 
plunge  across  and  slightly  up  the  rapid,  with  a 
sweep  like  a  flash  at  my  point  fly,  but  missing  it. 
When  he  attempted  to  strike,  his  back  for  several 
inches  came  out  of  the  water,  and  as  the  sun  was 
shining  brightly  I  could  distinctly  see  his  outline 
and  length.  Boys,  he  was  a  whopper!  The  larg- 
est I  ever  saw  rise  to  a  fly  in  any  waters  outside 
of  Lake  Champlain. 

"  I  was  considerably  flurried  and  excited,  but 
cooled  down  in  a  moment,  and  made  a  cast,  point- 
ing my  ender  just  below  the  spot  where  the  bass 
would  probably  reach  and  pause  after  his  sweep 
at  my  flies.  It  was  just  at  the  outer  edge  of  the 
swift  current,  where  concentric  and  enlarging  rings 
on  the  surface  told  me  that  there  was  still  water 
below.  My  'hornet'  no  sooner  struck  the  eddy 
than  it  was  struck  by  the  bass. 

"Of  course,  boys,  I  had  a  heavy  and  sweating 
time  of  it.  The  old  rascal  never  came  out  of  the 
wet  at  all,  but  despite  my  efi^orts  that  nose  of  his 
was  pointed  all  the  time  at  the  boiling  rapid,  and 
at  last  his  body  went  along  with  his  nose.  I 
scrambled  down  the  rock  as  best  I  could,  —  in  fact, 
I  slid  down  flat  on  my  back,  —  and  gave  him  his 
own  way.  Down  stream  he  went,  with  just  enough 
tension  on  him  to  hold  the  barb  of  the  hook  tightly 
imbedded  in  his  jaw  until  he  reached  mid-channel, 

7  97 


THE    basses:     fres h-w ater   and    marine 

where  the  current  was  comparatively  sluggish. 
Once  there  he  seesawed  from  right  to  left,  and 
left  to  right,  for  several  minutes,  until  at  last, 
struck,  or  rather  inspired,  —  for  it  was  inspiration, 
intellect,  anything  but  instinct,  —  by  that  last  life- 
saving  idea  which  I  have  seen  exercised  only  by  two- 
pounders  and  upward,  my  bass  went  down " 

"  And  sulked,"  put  in  Gills. 

"Sulked!"  cried  the  Doctor.  "Not  he;  there 
was  no  sulk  in  him.  Down  he  went  until  I  felt  that 
he  had  got  to  bed-rock.  Then  commenced  a  series 
of  tugs  or  jerks,  —  not  angry  ones,  but  regular 
in  time  and  method,  each  successive  one  getting  a 
little  stronger  than  the  last.  It  seemed  to  me  that 
he  had  found  a  hole  just  big  enough  for  his  body 
between  two  stones,  and  that  he  had.  braced  himself 
with  his  pectoral  fins  to  bear  upon  the  light  gear. 
At  first  I  simply  held  him  taut;  then,  fearing 
for  my  tackle,  I  let  up  on  him  at  each  tug;  but 
this  method,,  I  at  last  felt,  would  be  a  losing  game 
for  me,  as  the  jerks  grew  in  strength  with  an 
arithmetical  progression  that  alarmed  me.  Some- 
thing would  give  way,  I  was  sure,  if  I  did  not 
bring  matters  to  a  focus  at  once,  and  I  brought 
them.  Putting  a  sturdy  pull  upon  the  fish,  as  ob- 
stinate in  its  strain  as  he  was  in  his  tugs,  I  reeled 
in,  inch  by  inch,  until  I  actually  dragged  him  from 
his  lair;  but  unfortunately  it  was  a  poor  day  for 
dragging,  for,  with  a  vigorous  flirt  of  his  tail  and 

98 


Landing 


F  L  y-F  ISHING    IN    THE    SCHUYLKILL    RIVER 

a  figure-eight  contortion  of  his  body,  he  actually 
tore  the  hook  out  of  his  mouth,  and  it  came  back 
to  me  with  a  piece  of  flesh  clinging  to  it. 

"  Boys,  what  do  you  think  about  the  way  I 
handled  that  fish?  Was  I  right  or  wrong  in  my 
treatment  of  him?  " 

Gills  promptly  responded: 

"  No,  Doc,  you  did  n't  use  him  right.  There  are 
but  two  ways  of  treating  such  a  rascal;  one  is  to 
wear  him  out  by  patience,  just  as  a  mule-driver 
does  a  sulking  animal,  —  sits  down  and  eats  his 
dinner,  the  mule's  obstinacy  usually  winding  up 
with  the  driver's  last  mouthful;  or,  if  that  does 
not  answer  the  purpose,  still  continue  the  mule- 
driver's  methods,  —  pull  the  mule  backward  by  the 
tail,  he  's  bound  to  go  ahead.  Just  sq  with  the 
bass ;  chuck  a  small  boulder  behind  him,  and  he  's 
sure  to  jump  into  daylight." 

"  Nonsense,"  said  Mendy,  "  you  are  both  adrift. 
Doc,  you  should  have  held  that  bass  and  never  let 
him  reach  bottom." 

"Nonsense  back  in  your  teeth,  Mendy;  I 
couldn't  hold  him." 

"  Then  you  should  n't  fish  for  the  likes  of  him. 
A  man  who  goes  a-fishing  for  black  bass  with 
tackle  that  won't  hold  a  five-pounder  is  about  on 
a  par  with  the  man  who  roils  a  pool  with  three 
thrashing  flies  bunched  '  buzz.'  " 

This  last  remark  started  Gills  on  the  warpath. 


THE   basses:     fres  h-w  ater   and   marine 

"  It  was  n't  the  tackle,  Mendy,  that  failed  to 
hold  Doc's  fish;  it  was  the  fish's  lip.  Moreover, 
I  never  caught  twenty-three  bass,  each  weighing 
two  pounds,  on  a  single  fly  in  a  forenoon's  fish,  as 
you  did  at  Perkiomen ;  but  I  will  wager  our  man's 
wages  for  a  month  against  a  nine- foot  leader,  that 
my  bunchy  palmers,  the  tail  one  particularly,  which 
leaves  a  wake  behind  it  like  that  of  a  stern- wheel 
steamer,  will  catch  more  bass  in  a  given  time  than 
that  simple  spider  fly  you  brag  about." 

"  The  bet  is  taken  and  Saturday  next  the  day," 
cried,  Mendy;  and  our  anglers  at  last  went  to  work 
down  stream,  whipping  the  choicest  spots  of  the 
most  beautiful  bass  river  of  America. 

The  subject  of  the  mental  and  emotional  ca- 
pacity of  fishes  is  the  cause  of  much  curious 
speculation  among  angling  naturalists,  who  do  not 
willingly  consent  that  fishes  should  be  placed  upon 
a  plane  of  intelligence  below  that  of  insects. 

The  belief  that  fishes  possess  qualities  which  reach 
a  standard  beyond  the  instinct  of  self-preservation 
has  recently  gained  in  strength  and  interest,  owing 
to  the  increased  facilities  that  fish-culture  has  given 
us  for  observing  their  habits.  Seth  Green,  the 
Nestor  of  fish-culture  in  America,  believed  that 
fish  can  talk  to  each  other,  and  the  idea  is  by  no 
means  an  extravagant  one. 

It  is  conceded,  by  naturalists  that  certain  insects 

100 


F  L  Y-F  ISHING    IN    THE    SCHUYLKILL    RIVER 

and  many  of  the  lower  animals  have  the  power 
of  imparting  mutual  intelligence  by  processes  un- 
known to  us.  The  httle  ants  hob-nobbing  with 
each  other,  the  cooing  dove  wooing  his  mate  vocally, 
the  hen  clucking  her  brood  under  her  protecting 
wings,  are  familiar  instances  of  vocal  intercourse 
among  insects  and  birds;  and  no  one  who  has 
watched  the  minnows  of  a  shallow  pool,  or  those 
in  an  aquarium,  has  failed  to  see  equally  sure  in- 
dications that  fishes  have  a  way  of  their  own  in 
communicating  with  each  other.  They  dart  up  to 
one  another,  put  noses  together  for  a  moment,  and 
then  dart  off  again  with  an  air  as  much  as  to  say, 
"AU  right!" 

Old  ^schylus,  in  one  of  his  poems,  describes 
many  fishes  as  "  the  voiceless  daughters  of  the 
unpolluted  one  " ;  but  many  of  the  ancients  and 
moderns  testify  to  the  utterances  of  fish.  Pliny, 
Ovid,  and  others  tell  us  of  the  scarus  and  its  won- 
derful powers  of  intonation.  In  the  days  of  old 
Rome,  certain  fish  were  said  to  have  a  regular 
language,  "  low,  sweet,  and  fascinating,"  and  the 
Emperor  Augustus  pretended  to  understand  their 
words.  We  have  all  heard,  or  heard  of,  the  vari- 
ous sounds  of  the  gurnards,  the  booming  of  the 
drumfish,  and  the  grunts  of  the  croaker,  the  weak- 
fish,  and  others.  The  grunt-fish  of  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  is  said  to  express  discontent  and  pain,  and 
when  touched  with  a  knife,  fairly  shrieks,  and  when 

101 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

dying  makes  moans  and  sobs  disagreeably  human. 
Take  it  for  all  in  all,  we  cannot  but  believe  that 
fish  have  the  power  of  making  intelligent  commu- 
nication one  to  the  other,  and  we  have  frequently 
noted,  or  thought  we  did,  a  kind  of  knowing  look 
about  their  eyes  which  led  us  to  credit  them  with 
meaning  unutterable  things. 

The  scientists  tell  us  that  in  many  fishes  no  trace 
exists  of  an  organ  of  hearing;  that  the  tympanum, 
its  cavity,  and  the  external  parts  of  the  ear,  are 
entirely  absent;  that  in  others  this  organ  is  only 
imperfectly  developed,  and  that  in  the  remaining 
few  —  such  as  the  shark,  the  shad,  the  herring,  and 
others  —  there  is  an  odd  connection  between  the 
organ  of  hearing  and  the  air-bladder.  With  these 
crude  facts  before  him,  the  ichthyologist  leaves  the 
angler  to  work  out  the  answer  to  the  question, 
"  Can  fish  hear?  "  which  is  a  most  practical  one  to 
the  careful  angler  in  his  pursuit  of  the  educated 
game-fish  of  our  inland  waters. 

Fish  do  not  seem  to  hear  sound  originating  in 
the  air.  Place  a  cannon  upon  an  india-rubber  car- 
riage, sufficiently  large  and  elastic  to  deaden  all 
concussion  upon  the  ground,  and  Mr.  Fish,  after 
the  gun  has  been  fired,  will  be  as  placid  in  his  pool 
as  a  gourmand  after  dinner.  But  step  as  lightly 
as  one  may  upon  the  margin  of  a  stream,  and  the 
fish  will  scatter  Uke  shot  from  the  near  shallows 
where  they  are  feeding  or  frolicking.    The  larger 

J^  102 


F  L  Y-F  ISHING    IN    THE    SCHUYLKILL    RIVER 

the  fish  and  the  lesser  the  depth  of  water,  the 
greater  and  wider  the  scattering  will  be. 

Security,  with  them,  seems  to  lie  in  the  relative 
depth  of  the  pools,  as  the  step  of  the  angler  dis- 
turbs them  only  in  a  foot  or  two  of  water.  A 
black  bass  lying  in  a  hole  five  feet  deep,  close  to  the 
bank,  is  undisturbed  by  any  ordinary  concussion. 

Again,  any  concussion  originating  in  or  upon  the 
bed  of  the  river  or  below  the  bass  does  not  appear 
to  disturb  them.  This  was  verified  by  Mendy  one 
day  in  the  case  of  a  large  bass,  which  he  saw  lying 
motionless  within  a  foot  of  a  stake  to  which  the 
camp  boat  was  tied.  The  water  was  about  four 
feet  deep.  Mendy  struck  several  successive  hard 
blows  upon  the  top  of  the  stake,  which  protruded 
about  two  feet  out  of  the  water,  without  causing 
a  flirt  of  the  fin  in  the  fish  below. 

Our  anglers  at  once  concluded  that  the  bass 
could  not  hear  the  noise  made  by  their  footsteps 
upon  the  bed  of  the  river  when  they  were  wading 
in  the  stream,  and  as  the  jolly  fins  ("  jolly  for  the 
fins,"  parenthesized  Gills)  could  not  hear  their  con- 
versation originating  out  of  the  water,  they  in- 
dulged in  social  chat  and  pleasantries  whenever 
inclined,  taking  care,  however,  to  be  always  on  the 
safe  side,  by  not  becoming  too  boisterous  in  their 
discussions  or  hilarity. 

"  Boys,"  said  Mendy,  on  one  occasion,  "  what 
fools  these  bait-fishers  are  to  put  their  comfort  in 

103 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

a  straight- jacket  when  they  go  a-fishing!  Some 
old  fellows  won't  let  you  whisper  in  the  boat,  and 
are  as  querulous  and  overcautious  as  my  grand- 
father was  whenever  he  had  an  attack  of  the  gout. 
He  would  lie  flat  on  his  back  in  bed,  with  his  gouty 
foot  propped  up  on  a  pillow  laid  across  a  chair, 
placed  bottom  upward,  and  in  this  position  would 
centre  and  strain  his  eyes  and  fears  upon  the  knob 
of  the  chamber  door,  which  was  no  sooner  turned 
than  he  would  cry  out  with  prospective  pain, 
'  Watch  out  for  my  foot.' 

"  It  is  just  so  with  these  bait-fishers.  A  motion 
of  your  lip,  although  voiceless,  and  they  would  cry 
out,  if  they  dared,  '  Watch  out  for  my  coming 
bite ! '  They  are  right  in  thinking  that  the  least 
motion  of  the  boat  is  apt  to  frighten  the  fish,  but 
'  I  won't  go  home  till  morning,'  by  a  dozen  bass 
voices,  is  less  disturbing  to  a  pool  or  a  bank  than 
the  twisting  of  a  toe  on  the  bottom  of  a  boat." 

The  Doctor  continued:  "  A  fish  can  see  in  water, 
but  not  when  out  of  it.  The  shad.ow  of  a  split- 
bamboo  rod  thrown  across  a  pool  will  create  in  a 
fish  the  same  skittishness  as  would  be  caused  by 
an  elephant  browsing  upon  the  bank. 

"A  passing  cloud  over  a  shallow  and  pellucid 
pool  protects  the  angler,  and  puts  another  fin  or 
two  in  his  creel,  where,  a  moment  before,  each  cast 
drove  the  fish  to  deeper  pools  or  behind  protect- 
ing rocks." 

104 


F  L  Y-F  ISHING    IN    THE    SCHUYLKILL    RIVER 

Gills  said  that  fish  were  like  ostriches  in  some 
of  their  ways,  notably  in  that  they  seemed  to 
feel  safe  when  their  noses  were  hidden  behind 
a  tuft  of  grass  or  in  the  crevices  of  a  sunken 
rock. 

"  Fish  facing  the  sun,  and  forget  not  this  rule, 
even  when  the  twilight  is  over  the  waters,  by  cast- 
ing toward  the  west,"  was  the  law  of  our  anglers, 
enacted  by  their  knowledge,  based  upon  experience, 
of  the  eif  ect  of  shadows  upon  the  wary  fins,  which 
are  more  startled  by  unusual  appearances  on  the 
surface  of  a  pool  than  they  are  by  strange  things 
below. 

The  Doctor  then  said  that,  vision  and  hearing 
in  fishes  being  the  senses  most  concerning  the 
angler  in  his  aquatic  sports,  those  next  in  impor- 
tance are  smell  and  taste.  The  possession  of  these 
by  fish  seems  to  be  a  disputed  point.  They  evi- 
dently have  taste  in  a  modified  degree,  as  they 
will  reject'  the  artificial  lure  if  the  barb  or  the 
hook  is  not  immediately  imbedded  in  their  flesh, 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  they  will  take  a  leather  or 
rubber  imitation  of  the  natural  bait  with  as  much 
gusto  as  a  live  minnow  or  bug;  hence,  the  ques- 
tion is  a  seesaw  one. 

"  Of  course,  among  angling  naturalists,  the  gift 
of  senses  is,  or  at  least  they  think  it  should  be, 
confined  to  game-fish,  as  they  cannot  imagine  any 
dispensation  of  Providence  that  places  the  ignoble 

105 


THE   basses:     fres  h-w  ater   and   marine 

catfish  or  the  snaky  eel  upon  the  same  plane  with 
the  salmon,  trout,  or  bass. 

"  Fish,  no  doubt,  in  common  with  other  animals, 
have  the  instinct  of  danger  developed  almost  to  ^ 
the  quality  of  reason;  and  it  is  no  bar  to  the 
truth  of  this  to  argue  that,  because  a  fish  will  take 
the  bait  with  half-a-d,ozen  hooks  in  his  jaws,  it 
follows  a  brutish  appetite  that  is  blind  to  danger; 
for,  look  you,  be  ye  an  angler  or  a  butcher,  that 
stomach  of  yours  is  death  to  you  every  day  of 
your  life:  that  smoking  dish,  be  it  red  herring 
or  canvas-back  duck,  is  causing  you  to  make  rapid 
strides  graveward,  and  you  know  it;  and  yet  you 
gorge  yourself  every  day  upon  your  favorite  dish. 

"  It  ill  becomes  a  man  to  argue  that  because  an 
animal  cannot  control  its  appetite  it  has  not  the 
lordjy  gift  of  reason.    To  sum  up: 

"  Can  a  fish  taste?  Certainly:  he  spits  out,  if 
he  can,  an  artificial  bait. 

"Can  a  fish  smell?  Aye,  there's  the  rub;  yet 
why  the  anointed  lures  so  prized  by  old  anglers 
and  many  modern  ones,  and  why  does  a  fresh 
natural  bait  kill  the  most  fish? 

"This  fact,  however,  is  sure:  fish  are  suscep- 
tible to  anger  and  jealousy;  for  we  have  seen  them 
fight,  and  we  all  know  how  tiger-like  in  jealous 
combat  salmon  and  trout  are  on  their  nuptial 
beds." 

The  evening's  fish  of  the  club  had  commenced 

106 


F  L  Y-F  ISHING    IN    THE    SCHUYLKILL    RIVER 

SO  tardily,  that  it  was  confined  to  the  stretch  of 
the  stream  bounded  up  and  down  by  the  two  pre- 
viously named  water-marks,  the  lower  one  of  which 
was  only  a  distance  of  300  yards  from  the  camp. 

Mendy,  fishing  in  the  centre,  and  standing  some 
twenty  feet  back  of  a  large  rock  known  as  "  The 
Daddy,"  on  account  of  its  great  size,  was  the  first 
to  get  a  rise.  His  fish  was  a  pounder,  known  at 
once  to  be  such,  not  only  from  its  size,  but  by 
the  vivacity  of  its  strike. 

Mend,y  would  never  listen  to  the  accepted  theory 
that  bass  could  be  found  and  caught  with  more 
certainty  by  allowing  the  flies  to  sink  an  inch  or 
two  below  the  surface.  Whenever  the  fact  was 
announced  he  would  bury  it  under  a  contemptu- 
ous "  Bosh ! "  and  always  persisted  in  skittering 
his  fly  over  the  water.  He  did  not  vary  his  prac- 
tice on  this  occasion,  and  was  quickly  greeted  with 
a  rise,  the  like  of  which  is  only  an  occasional  oc- 
currence among  bass. 

The  fish,  in  its  eagerness,  missed  the  lure,  and 
came,  trout-like,  at  least  a  foot  out  of  the  water, 
turning  a  complete  somersault,  returning  head 
down  into  the  stream  again. 

A  careful  eye,  watching  Mendy  just  then,  would 
have  been  delighted  and  somewhat  astonished  to 
see  him,  then  and  there,  go  back  upon  his  em- 
phatic "Bosh!"  as  he  lulled  his  skittered  fly  into 
a  passive  float,  allowing  the  sweep  of  the  current 

107 


THE   basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and   marine 

to  carry  the  single  fly  slightly  below  the  surface. 
His  reward  came  at  once,  for  Mr.  Bass,  as  he  re- 
turned to  his  own  element,  doubtless  paused  for  a 
moment  to  dwell  upon  the  wonders  of  the  foreign 
one  from  which  he  had  just  returned,  —  paused 
just  long  enough  to  allow  Mendy's  tempting  bug 
to  drift  under  his  nose,  and  then  struck  swift,  sure, 
and  safe. 

"  It 's  only  a  mite  of  a  fellow,  boys,"  said 
Mendy,  as  he  quickly  brought  the  bass  within  reach 
of  his  left  thumb,  which  he  inserted  in  the  gill, 
basketing  the  fish  without  flurry  or  waste  of  time. 

Gills  by  this  time  had  his  hands  full  with  a  two- 
pounder,  which  had  struck  with  such  vim  that  a 
sort  of  wake  was  made  behind  him,  seaming  the 
pool,  across  which  the  fish  was  surging  with  diago- 
nal sweeps  from  right  to  left  and  vice  versa. 

"  Boys,  he  is  an  unco'  dandy,"  cried  Gills,  and 
the  fish  justified  the  remark  under  the  rodster's 
pecuhar  method  of  handling,  for  he  went  at 
pleasure,  hither,  thither,  and  everywhere.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  one  of  Gills's  crotchets  was  to 
allow  a  bass  all  the  line  he  wanted,  provided  that 
the  strength  of  the  fish  was  sufficient  to  draw  the 
line  from  the  clicked  reel.  Now  this  bronze-backer 
was  just  the  fish  to  do  Gills's  theory  to  a  turn,  and 
he  buckled  down  to  it  as  if  with  a  foreknowledge 
of  the  latitude  of  range  permitted  by  his  oppo- 
nent's favorite  method. 

108 


An  Enthusiast 


^ 


F  L  Y-F  ISHING    IN    THE    SCHUYLKILL    RIVER 

A  few  moments,  and  the  bass  won.  Making  a 
bee-line  for  a  boulder  the  gray  head  of  which 
cropped  out  of  the  stream,  showing  the  angles 
below,  the  fish  circled  around  the  sharp  corners, 
and  then,  somewhat  restricted  by  the  line,  came 
half-sideways  a  few  inches  into  the  air,  and  fell 
back  again  with  a  flop  and  a  half -hitch  around  its 
tail  into  the  water,  having  in  its  jaw  a  bunched 
palmer  and  four  feet  of  leader,  streaming,  horn- 
pout-like,  dpwn  the  current  faster  than  the  ex- 
hausted fish  could  follow  it. 

It  has  been  said  that  bass,  when  struck  and 
played,  will  always  head  down  stream  when  they 
escape  from  the  hook,  and  we  have  verified  this 
saying  over  and  over  again. 

Gills  was  by  no  means  flurried  over  his  loss,  for 
he  simply  remarked: 

"  Just  as  likely  as  not  another  big  fellow  hitched 
on  to  the  dropper  when  the  first  one  came  out  of 
the  wet;  and  you  know,  boys,  with  a  big  fish  in 
the  air,  and  another  big  one  seesawing  the  liver 
out  of  the  leader  around  a  rock,  from  below, — 
why  no  tackle  can  stand  it,"  —  and  he  sat  down 
on  "  The  Daddy  "  to  repair  damages. 

The  Doctor  fished  the  shallows  on  the  left  side 
of  the  river  with  judgment,  but  without  an  im- 
mediate rise. 

Over  the  bank,  and  extending  into  the  stream, 
the  lengthening  shadows  were  falling  with  clear- 

109 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

cut  yet  changing  outlines  as  the  foliage  of  the 
trees  waved  to  and  fro,  "  the  gloom  of  the  even- 
tide "  reaching  out  for  thirty  yards  from  the  shelv- 
ing and  grassy  margin  of  the  river. 

Our  anglers  chose  the  dense  patches  of  shade, 
giving  preference  to  the  little  eddies  that  whirled 
around  the  miniature  rocks  which  here  and  there 
dotted  the  broad  reach  of  the  quiet  waters  ex- 
tending from  the  "  Sentinels  "  down  to  the  "  Old 
Fish  Weir." 

Midway  between  those  two  water-marks  a  few 
small  boulders  were  tumbled  together,  over  and 
through  which  the  water  purled  and  foamed  into 
baby  rifts,  which  were  soon  lost  in  the  gentle  flow 
of  the  river.  Just  at  this  point  a  pebbly  bar,  its 
bold  head  forming  a  little  island,  cropped  out  from 
the  surface,  baring  its  front  to  the  flowing  waters, 
which,  with  dying  swirls  induced  by  the  rapids 
above,  swept  around  its  stony  sides.  Within  a 
yard  or  two  of  its  outer  end  the  flash  of  a  feed- 
ing bass  and  the  sheen  of  a  herd  of  skipping 
minnows  caught  the  keen  eye  and  ear  of  the 
Doctor,  and  quicker  than  thought  his  favorite  fly 
lit  searchingly  a  few  feet  behind  the  fish. 

Behind  the  fish  —  because  a  hungry  bass,  when 
dashing  into  shallow  water  after  the  frightened  fin- 
gerlings,  returns  to  the  deeper  pool  instanter  —  he 
lingers  not  a  moment,  but  back  again  to  his  lair 
until  his  prey  gathers  once  more  upon  the  shoals. 

110 


F  L  Y-F  ISHING    IN    THE    SCHUYLKILL    RIVER 

We  have  often  seen  an  old  bass,  when  feeding, 
dart  among  a  crowd  of  minnows  where  the  water 
was  so  shallow  that  his  great  dorsal  fin  was  per- 
force entirely  out  of  the  water;  and  more  than 
once,  when  fishing  over  the  stretch  of  the  bar  near 
Quail  Island,  the  Doctor  had  observed  large  bass 
working  their  way  for  yards,  with  side  fins  and 
muscles,  where  the  river  had  a  depth  of  only  a 
few  inches. 

Knowing  this  retreating  habit  of  the  bass  when- 
ever deeper  water  was  accessible,  the  Doctor  deftly 
and  quickly  threw  his  flies  about  three  feet  to  the 
rear  of  the  spot  where  he  had  last  seen  the  body  of 
the  fish  splash  into  the  water.  He  had  not  only 
dropped  his  flies  behind,  but  also  allowed  them  to 
sink  an  inch  or  two  below  the  surface,  knowing 
full  well  that  bass  would  not  make  two  immedi- 
ately consecutive  rises.  His  caution  and  skill  were 
promptly  rewarded. 

The  fish,  doubtless  with  his  appetite  sharpened 
by  the  delicacy  of  the  silver  shiner  just  swallowed, 
struck  with  such  boldness  that  the  Doctor,  who  had 
hitherto  invariably  handled  his  strikes  in  silence, 
cried  out: 

"Mark!    Mark!" 

His  experience  and  memories  of  the  past  de- 
lights of  the  field  probably  prompted  this  invol- 
untary cry,  as  not  many  years  ago,  before  his  eye 
had  been  dazed  by  the  sweep  of  a  covey,  he  was 

111 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater   and    marine 

one  of  the  gifted  few  in  a  stubble-field  or  an 
alder-swamp. 

Mendy  and  Gills  were  startled  by  his  voice,  and 
at  once  paused  in  their  downward  casts,  looking 
toward  the  Doctor,  who  had  hailed  them  with  an 
addendum : 

"  Boys,  he 's  one  of  the  dandies  of  the  old 
Potomac  River  stock,"  alluding  to  the  original 
source  of  the  black  bass  of  Pennsylvania  rivers, 
all  of  which  came  from  the  source  he  named. 

"A  five-pounder,  if  an  ounce,"  he  nervously 
added,  with  flushed  face  and  tremulous  voice. 

"  Gills,"  said  Mendy  in  a  low  voice,  "  Doc  will 
lose  that  fish;  his  nerves  are  all  unstrung." 

"  No!  no!  Mendy,  I  Ve  seen  him  before  in  just 
such  a  quiver;  outside  he  is  an  aspen  leaf,  inside 
as  nervy  as  an  iron  bar.    Watch  him." 

As  Gills  spoke,  the  Doctor  was  seen  to  edge 
himself,  inch  by  inch,  toward  the  middle  of  the 
stream,  the  fish  meanwhile  bearing  all  before  him, 
but  not  rapidly  clicking  the  reel,  for  the  angler's 
thumb  pressed  the  line  closely  against  the  rod,  and 
it  went  out  with  a  measured  click-click-click,  not 
mth  a  continuous  whirr  and  whirl,  but  inch  by 
inch,  just  as  the  bronzed  rascal  earned  it. 

Gills's  heart  was  in  his  mouth,  for  the  Doctor's 
method  of  handling  the  fish  was  so  opposite  to 
his  own  in  theory  and  practice  that  for  his  life 
he  could  not  help  breaking  out  with: 

119 


F  L  Y-F  ISHING    IN    THE    SCHUYLKILL    RIVER 

"  Doctor,  for  heaven's  sake  let  up  on  him!  He  '11 
smash  things  if  you  don't!  " 

"Bosh!"  came  the  reply,  as  the  fisherman  was 
seen  to  turn  the  tip  of  his  rod  toward  mid-stream, 
its  butt  outward  and  downward,  with  the  yielding 
bamboo  arched  and  quivering  under  the  strain. 

Meanwhile  the  ceaseless  click-click-chck  showed 
that  the  bass  still  held  the  upper  hand. 

Foot  by  foot  came  the  Doctor  nearer  to  deep 
water,  the  fish  getting  farther  and  farther  away, 
with  about  twenty  yards  of  the  reel  line  going 
down  stream  with  him.  It  was  ten  yards  more 
than  the  Doctor  ever  yielded  before  to  a  bass. 

Gaining  a  depth  sufiicient  to  play  the  coppery 
giant  beyond  the  danger  of  rock  or  rapid,  the 
Doctor  snubbed  his  fish  sharply.  The  response 
came  quickly  by  a  surge  across  stream,  swift  as 
an  arrow  from  a  bow,  straining  line,  leader,  and 
rod  to  the  utmost  tension;  but  the  ball  of  the 
angler's  thumb  contained  so  delicate  a  nerve,  or 
pulse,  trained  to  danger  for  use  on  such  occasions 
as  this,  that,  .  whenever  breakage  signals  were 
aboard,  the  Kne  glided  through  the  rod-rings  with 
just  sufficient  restraint  upon  it  to  curb  the  will 
of  the  fighting  fish,  and  take  from  it,  thread  by 
thread,  its  wild  strength  of  muscle. 

Surge  —  surge  —  and  surge  again,  but  still 
in  mid-water,  for  not  even  the  tip  of  the  dorsal 
fin  glinted  along  the  twilight  shadows  that  were 

8  113 


THE  basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and   marine 

now  rapidly  deepening  over  the  bosom  of  the 
river. 

The  Doctor,  as  cool  now  as  the  freshening  even- 
ing breeze,  held  his  prey  well  in  hand  until  the 
bass  resorted  to  the  usual  dodge  of  the  weighty 
ones  by  settling  deeper  until  it  reached  the  bottom 
and  stayed  there. 

The  Doctor  knew  that  this  trick  meant  recuper- 
ation, and  that  when  the  fight  was  renewed  his  fish 
would  contest  every  inch  with  nearly  all  its  origi- 
nal skill  and  vigor. 

What  was  to  done?  Strike  the  hook  deeper  into 
the  sulker's  jaw?  The  only  response  was  a  suc- 
cession of  tugs  from  the  fish,  which  could  be  com- 
pared only  to  the  sturdy,  persistent  jerks  that  a 
dog  gives  when  you  attempt  to  take  a  cloth  or  a 
rope  from  its  mouth. 

Startle  it  with  a  pebble  or  two  thrown  into  the 
pool? 

The  bass  only  settled  itself  deeper  and  deeper 
until  it  reached  bed-rock  and  stayed  there. 

But  one  resource  was  left,  and  the  Doctor  availed 
himself  of  it.  He  put  his  tackle  to  the  test,  and 
dragged  the  bronze-backer  upward  by  main  force. 
No  sooner  did  the  fish  feel  the  tightening  strain 
than  it  sprang  into  the  air,  but,  being  skilfully 
met,  could  do  no  more  than  surge  across  and 
across  the  pool  in  desperate  efforts  to  free  itself.   , 

Having  tried  the  strength  of  his  tackle,  and 

114 


F  L  Y-F  ISHING    IN    THE    SCHUYLKILL    RIVER 

found  no  failure  there,  the  Doctor  closed  his  hold 
on  the  bass,  and  after  a  few  wild  efforts  the 
fish  floated  on  its  side,  and  was  carefully  towed 
toward  and  into  the  shallow  water,  whence  its  cap- 
tor, running  his  fingers  through  the  gill,  deftly 
plucked  it  and  held  it  up,  exclaiming: 

"A  four-pounder,  by  George!" 

Gills  and  Mendy  gathered  around,  and  the 
former  whipped  out  his  rule,  and,  laying  out  the 
lines  of  the  bass,  announced  the  result: 

"  Nineteen  inches  long  —  six  and  a  half  broad 
—  two  and  a  quarter  thick;  mouth-opening  capa- 
city, two  and  three-quarter  inches,  —  a  simon-pure 
Micropterus  dolomiei  —  small-mouthed  —  probable 
weight,  four  and  a  half  pounds." 


115 


/-' 


BASS  IN  THE  BEAVERKILL 


// 


BASS  IN  THE  BEAVERKILL 

IT  will  probably  be  a  great  surprise  to  most 
of  the  anglers  who  yearly  wade  this  famous 
trout-stream  to  read  of  bass  in  their  favorite 
water.  Before  going  any  further  I  will  say 
that  what  harm  can  be  done  to  the  Fontinalis  is 
done,  because  bass  will  not  ascend  the  stream  higher 
than  a  certain  point,  where  the  temperature  is  lower 
than  they  like,  to  spawn.  This  given  point  is  the 
junction  of  the  Willowemoc  and  the  Beaverkill. 
A  little  below  the  town  of  Roscoe,  a  stretch  of  six 
miles  down  stream  is  one  of  the  prettiest  bits  of 
bass-fishing  any  angler  can  desire.  Some  years 
ago  this  part  of  the  river  got  the  name  of  con- 
taining numerous  big  brown  trout  that  were  very 
wary  and  hard  to  land,  and  these  very  soon  played 
havoc  with  the  speckled  trout,  so  that  few,  if  any, 
are  now  caught. 

In  fishing  in  this  water  down  to  Cook's  Falls, 
where  bass  have  been  landed  weighing  from  three 

119 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

to  five  pounds,  nobody  seems  to  have  imagined  that 
bass  would  run  up  the  stream  above  the  falls;  yet 
all  the  way  down,  in  trying  for  trout  at  the  best 
season  on  various  occasions,  I  did  not  meet  a  single 
fisherman,  and  I  landed  no  fish,  though  I  used  the 
finest  of  imported  leaders  and,  very  small  flies.  It 
never  occurred  to  me  that  by  using  live  bait  or 
young  frogs  in  this  rushing  water  things  would 
have  been  different. 

Fishing  at  "  The  Fork  " 

For  a  number  of  weeks  I  confined  my  whole 
attention  to  a  fine  pool  made  by  the  junction  of 
the  two  streams,  locally  known  as  "  The  Fork." 
It  is  a  long,  deep  pool,  three  hundred  feet  long 
and  seventy-five  feet  wide,  and  in  parts  fifteen 
feet  deep.  I  fished  in  this  pool  for  trout  every 
evening,  watching  for  them  to  rise  about  sundown, 
and  always  succeeded  in  landing  one,  two,  or  three, 
none  less  than  twelve  and  some  as  much  as  eigh- 
teen inches  long. 

During  my  stay  of  five  weeks  I  had  thirty-seven 
large  trout  to  my  credit  —  not  one  Fontinalis  — 
the  number  being  about  evenly  divided  of  brown, 
rainbow,  and  German.  One  starry  but  dark  even- 
ing, I  hooked  a  nice  fish.  I  could  not  see  it,  but 
by  its  leap  and  the  way  it  acted  I  felt  sure  it  was 
a  bass.     My  leader  being  very  fine,  it  was  neces- 

120 


BASS     IN     THE     BEAVERKILL 

sary  to  bide  the  fish's  time.  On  the  other  bank  a 
local  angler  was  walking  slowly  backward  and 
forward  along  the  pebbly  beach.  Upon  my  ask- 
ing him  why  so  much  exercise  he  repHed,  "  I  Ve 
got  two  on  and  mean  to  land  them."  After  a 
time  I  landed  my  fish,  which  proved  to  be  a  bass 
of  nearly  three  pound;s,  and  went  to  the  hotel, 
leaving  my  brother  angler  still  on  his  beat.  The 
next  day,  I  called  at  his  place,  and  on  my  inquir- 
ing about  the  previous  night,  he  said,  "  Come  and 
see."  To  my  great  surprise,  I  saw  a  brown  trout 
of  over  three  pounds,  and  a  bass  of  three  and  a 
half  pounds,  both  taken  on  the  fly.  "  So,"  said  my 
friend,  "  you  see  I  landed  a  double,  but  not  two 
of  a  kind." 

Ideal  Bass  Water 

It  was  this  incident  which  led  to  my  inquiries 
regarding  bass  in  this  part  of  the  river.  I  was 
told  there  were  lots  of  them  all  the  way  down  to 
Cook's  Falls,  and  I  find  that  any  day  I  can  fill  a 
basket.  I  have  caught  them  on  the  fly,  with 
young  frogs,  and  with  crayfish,  but  find  lampreys 
aff*ord  the  best  and  easiest  fishing.  The  bed  of  the 
river  is  rocky,  and  live  bait  get  under  the  stones, 
but  lampreys  slip  out  easily.  I  have  never  tried 
minnows  or  a  spoon,  but  bass  will  take  anything 
you  like  to  off*er  them.    They  rise  to  a  fly  almost 

121 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

any  time,  and,  living  in  quite  rapid  water,  are 
unusually  gamy. 

Below  "  The  Fork,"  the  river  runs  down  an  in- 
cline of  rocks  in  the  bed  of  the  stream.  This  is 
ideal  bass  water.  Without  going  any  further 
down  stream  a  basket  may  be  filled  if  the  condi- 
tions are  at  all  favorable.  If  flies  are  not  taken, 
young  lampreys  may  be  dug  out  of  the  sandy 
reaches  of  the  river  side.  On  the  hill  side  above 
this  stretch  of  water  is  located  a  very  comfortable 
and  clean  boarding-house,  well  kept  by  John  S. 
Ferdon,  whose  address  is  Roscoe  Post-Office.  A 
short  distance  away  is  the  Campbell  Inn,  more 
elaborate  and  higher  priced,  but  well  kept  and 
very  comfortable  for  anglers.  Either  place  will 
suit  those  who  want  to  fish  in  this  neighborhood. 

The  river  in  parts  is  very  rapid;  but,  as  it  turns 
so  often,  many  pools  and  stretches  yield  good  re- 
sults, the  best  and  easiest  fishing  being  along  where 
the  railroad  runs.  It  is  quite  possible,  indeed  very 
likely,  that  the  angler  will  strike  and  land  one  of 
the  large  brown  trout  which  were  planted  in  this 
section  some  years  ago.  They  have  grown  large 
and  fat,  but  rise  to  the  fly  only  in  the  evening 
and  have  grown  very  wary,  often  getting  away 
with  the  fierce  first  rush  before  the  angler  is  aware 
of  them,  when  it  is  too  late  to  give  them  line,  or 
they  rush  around  a  rock  or  stump  and  so  free 
themselves.     If  the  angler  is  fly-fishing  he  will 

122 


BASS     IN     THE     BEAVERKILL 

often  strike  a  good-sized  chub,  which  plays  so 
pluckily  that  for  a  while  it  will  deceive  the  fisher- 
man, who  thinks  he  has  a  trout.  I  have  had  a 
fifteen-inch  chub  rush  up  stream  exactly  hke  the 
speckled  trout,  but  it  gives  up  the  fight  much 
sooner.  I  usually  throw  such  catches  on  shore  to 
give  the  minks  a  fish  supper.  These  nimble  little 
animals  seem  to  be  quite  plentiful.  I  often  see 
them  swimming  across  the  stream  or  sitting  by 
the  water's  edge  on  the  lookout  for  a  young  bass 
or  trout. 

A  Day's  Work 

Farther  down,  the  stream  does  not  widen,  but 
gets  wilder,  and  everywhere  the  banks  are  lined 
with  a  thick  growth  of  timber  or  brush  with  high 
mountains  on  each  side,  mostly  uncultivated. 
Farms  are  few  and  far  between.  The  distance 
from  Roscoe  to  Cook's  Falls  by  road  or  rail  is 
but  six  miles.  By  the  winding  stream  I  should 
say  it  was  about  twelve  miles,  making  a  full  day's 
hard  fishing.  But  such  a  day  is  well  worth  the 
labor  for  the  expert  if  he  provides  himself  with 
the  right  bait  and  tackle.  He  will  not  have  any 
desire  to  walk  back  home,  or  especially  to  carry 
his  catch  on  his  back.  He  will  be  wise  to  time 
himself  for  the  return  trip  and  catch  the  train 
back  in  the  evening.  Arriving  at  Cook's  Falls 
the  angler  will  have  a  chance  to  try  his  luck  at 

133 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

this  famous  bass  pool.  He  will,  no  doubt,  find 
others  there,  the  locality  being  well  known  and  fre- 
quented by  many  fishermen.  But  nobody  could 
pass  by  such  a  splendid  place  without  having  a 
cast  from  the  lower  end  of  this  rushing  torrent. 
For  my  own  part  I  rarely  go  far  away  from 
"  The  Fonk,"  and  the  angler  will  do  well  to  try 
the  long  deep  pool  at  sundown  early  in  the  season. 
If  a  fine  evening  the  wind  usually  drops,  and  all 
is  calm  on  the  surface  except  for  the  "  plop-plop  " 
of  the  rising  bass.  With  a  cast  of  two  or  three 
flies  —  a  brown,  a  gray,  and  a  red  —  dropped 
lightly,  if  possible,  over  the  place  where  the  fish 
are  rising,  the  reel  will  probably  spin  to  a  lively 
tune.  A  small  handy  net  saves  time  in  landing. 
There  will  be  plenty  of  work,  or  play,  just  as  the 
angler  chooses  to  make  it,  until  dark,  —  and  after 
dark  for  that  matter.  The  fish  will  go  on  taking 
the  fly,  as  they  can  see  just  as  well  as  in  the  day- 
light. But  to  my  mind  there  is  httle  pleasure  in 
fishing  in  the  dark.  It  is  difficult  to  bring  the 
fish  to  the  net,  and  flies  will  get  entangled,  espe- 
cially if  pussy-willows  form  a  background.  So 
I  generally  wind  up  when  the  stars  begin  to 
twinkle,  trudge  off^  home,  take  off^  my  boots,  wash, 
and  eat  a  hearty  supper,  and  then  sit  on  the  piazza 
smoking  and  planning  what  to  use  and  where  to 
go  on  the  morrow,  going  to  bed  with  a  hope  that 
no  rain  will  come  in  the  night  to  flood  the  stream. 

194 


1 


e 

'b 

^ 


c3 


BASS     IN     THE     BEAVERKILL 

Of  course,  most  anglers  like  to  land  fish, — 
plenty  of  them  and  of  tolerable  size.  Yet  the 
true  fisherman  can  return  home  after  a  hard  day's 
work  with  nothing  in  his  creel,  and  still  be  satis- 
fied with  his  eff^orts,  knowing  full  well  that  many 
conditions  have  to  be  combined  ere  the  wary  fish 
give  the  desired  chances.  And  the  fish  are  by  no 
means  the  only  factor  to  be  considered.  A  hot 
or  windy  day  is  unfavorable,  and  a  night's  rain 
swells  these  mountain  rivers  into  roaring  torrents, 
so  that  if  the  holiday  is  limited  to  a  week  or  two, 
the  waiting  for  the  water  to  become  normal  would 
try  the  patience  of  St.  Peter  himself. 

Some  Awkward  Experiences 

I  have  always  found  that  it  takes  a  couple  of 
days  in  a  new  place  to  find  out  what  bait  to  use, 
where  the  fish  He,  and,  what  time  of  day  they  are 
amiable  —  for  the  only  fish  that  is  at  all  agreeable 
is  the  one  that  meets  you  half  way.  If  it  be  a 
large  one,  the  chance  is  all  on  its  side  to  get  away 
and  live  to  come  some  other  day.  The  true  angler 
scorns  to  haul  him  in  like  a  codfish.  That  is  why, 
in  fly-fishing,  a  nice  judgment  is  required,  to  be 
neither  quick  nor  slow.  A  bass  will  come  to  the 
creel  quicker  when  handled  firmly.  I  shall  never 
forget  one  of  the  first  really  good-sized  bass  I 
hooked,  using  a  shiner  for  bait,  at  the  SuUivan 

125 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater   and    marine 

County  Club's  Wolf  Pond.  I  was  alone  in  the 
boat  and  had  slipped  an  oar,  and  the  bass  had 
reeled  out  nearly  all  my  line.  For  the  life  of  me 
I  had  not  strength  to  reel  him  back.  He  was 
making  toward  New  York  for  all  he  was  worth. 
A  stranger,  fishing  some  distance  away,  yelled, 
"  Why  don't  you  get  him  in? "  I  replied,  "  I 
wish  I  could."  He  came  rowing  up  at  full  speed 
and  said,  "  Hand  me  your  rod."  I  thankfully  did 
so.  Well,  he  set  to  work  and  whirled  the  rod 
around  like  a  windmill.  I  said  ruefully,  "  That 
rod  's  a  good  one,  but  I  doubt  if  it 's  as  strong 
as  an  oar.  Remember  it 's  not  yours,  but  mine, 
you  are  jimcracking  with."  "  Oh,  damn  the  rod. 
Let 's  get  the  fish,"  he  replied.  After  some  more 
whirlwind  passes  he  certainly  turned  the  traveller 
toward  my  boat,  and  consequently  to  my  net,  and 
began  to  reel  in  Uke  mad,  so  that  together  we 
soon  had  safe  a  fine  three-pound  bass.  For  the 
rest  of  the  day  we  fished  together  and  I  learned 
a  good  deal  that  was  useful  to  me  in  after  life. 

Another  instance  of  my  early  bass-fishing  days 
was  when  my  wife  and  I  were  out  on  the  lily- 
pond  some  miles  back  of  Roscoe.  A  beautiful 
sheet  of  water  it  was,  but  we  had  little  success 
and  at  last  decided  to  try  the  lily-pads  for  pike. 

We  used  a  minnow  and  a  large  fly.  Hardly 
had  we  cast  the  first  bait  when  my  wife  had  a 
shock  and  her  reel  began  to  whirr.    The  fish  started 

126 


BASS     IN     THE     BEAVERKILL 

for  the  lily-pads.  Just  as  I  arose  to  assist  her, 
my  rod  gave  a  sudden  jerk.  There  we  both  were, 
in  deep  water,  with  long  and  tough  lily-stems  all 
around.  I  said,  "  Hold  tight,  and  I  will  land  this 
fellow."  I  began  to  reel  in,  net  in  hand.  I  got 
him  up  to  the  boat  and  saw  that  it  was  a  good- 
sized  pike.  All  at  once  he  darted  right  under  the 
boat  and  took  the  rod  with  him,  smashing  it  into 
shivers.  Laying  the  remaining  butt  down,  I  men- 
tally resolved  that  this  should  happen  but  once, 
and  began  the  work  of  landing  the  other  fish. 
The  rod  my  wife  used  was  borrowed  from  a 
friend,  a  fact  not  realized  at  the  time,  though  that 
friend,  in  another  boat,  was  shouting  for  us  to 
come  along  home,  which  helped  to  make  matters 
worse.  Any  way  the  tip  split  at  the  ferrule.  Still 
struggling  with  three  parts  of  a  rod,  after  an 
awful  mess  and  tangle,  we  at  last  netted  the  prize 
bass  of  the  day's  fishing-party  and,  merited,  if  we 
did  not  win,  a  prize  as  rod-breakers. 


127 


THE  CHOICE  OF  FLIES 


TO  choose  the  six  best  books  would  be  no 
more  difficult  than  a  like  choice  of  flies. 
It  would  be  hardly  possible  to  get  two 
fly-fishermen,  from  the  many  thousands 
who  cast,  to  agree  on  a  choice  of  the  six  best  flies. 
The  most  that  could  be  hoped  for  would  be  that 
so  short  a  hst  should  contain  one  of  their  fancy. 
Indeed  many  anglers  provide  a  varied  list  in 
their  books,  because  season  and  locaUty  require  it. 
Bright  or  cloudy  days  often  make  it  necessary  to 
change  both  size  and  color,  and  a  fly  used  with 
success  in  the  morning  is  often  no  good  at  evening, 
although  on  the  following  evening  it  may  be  just 
the  thing. 

To  minimize  the  difficulty  and  save  time  while  in 
the  water,  a  well-known  angler  has  devised  a  plan 
to  have  ready-tied  half-a-dozen  leaders  with  a 
choice  and  varied  assortment  in  both  color  and  size 
—  each  set  entirely  diiferent  from  all  the  others. 

131 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

The  largest  and  most  taking  fly  is  placed  as  the 
end,  or  tail,  fly.  Should  the  upper  fly  be  taken  first, 
it  is  then  removed  to  the  end  —  the  end  fly  being 
much  easier  to  handle,  especially  with  a  large  fish. 
Should  the  first  cast  of  flies  be  unsuccessful,  it  is 
short  work  to  take  it  off^  the  line  and  replace  it  with 
another,  duller  in  color,  or  brighter,  as  the  case 
may  be.  By  this  means,  he  claims,  possibly  with 
truth,  that  less  time  is  wasted  and  the  quarry  sooner 
brought  to  the  basket.  It  certainly  has  advantages 
when  fishing  after  dusk,  with  little  light  to  see  the 
fly  or  tie  it  on  the  leader. 

Many  anglers  assert  that  for  bass-fishing  one  fly 
is  suflicient,  and  some  think  a  small  spoon  used  with 
the  fly  gives  better  results.  This  would  be  espe- 
cially so  when  a  vari-colored  fly  like  the  Ferguson 
is  used.  It  would  seem  that  with  two  flies,  tied 
forty  inches  apart  and  having  as  great  a  diff'erence 
as  possible  in  color  and  size,  success  would  be  more 
sure.  It  is  by  no  means  rare  that  two  fish  will  take 
the  flies  at  the  same  time.  Often  in  playing  one  fish 
the  other  fly,  being  moved  rapidly  in  the  water,  will 
be  taken  by  another  fish,  out  of  pure  jealousy.  An 
instance  of  this  kind  was  shown  when  the  writer, 
fishing  with  a  live  minnow  on  the  end  of  the  leader, 
and  a  fly  tied,  three  feet  from  the  bait,  a  good- 
sized  pickerel  took  the  minnow.  After  being 
brought  to  the  edge  of  the  boat,  he  broke  away, 
again  to  be  returned,  with  a  large  bass  on  the  fly  — 

132 


THE     CHOICE     OF      FLIES 

the  pickerel  on  the  bait  —  both  being  landed  after 
considerable  stiff  and  careful  work. 

Very  few  will  contest  the  fact  that  the  silver 
doctor,  both  in  form  and  beauty,  is  the  queen  of 
flies.  No  matter  what  its  size,  for  bass,  trout,  or 
salmon,  it  holds  its  own  as  a  taking  fly,  in  any 
season  or  locality.  In  "  Favorite  Flies,"  Mrs. 
Marbury  states  that  the  majority  of  anglers  place 
the  silver  doctor  at  the  head  of  the  list,  especially 
for  evening  use.  It  did  not  originate  in  this  coun- 
try, but  it  has  been  heartily  adopted,  and  adapted 
to  all  waters  by  making  it  on  all  sizes  of  hooks. 
Its  value  for  all  game-fish  is  undisputed. 

As  a  bass  fly,  next  to  the  silver  doctor,  the  Fer- 
guson is  probably  the  most  successful  fly  used.  It 
is  named  after  Major  Ferguson,  Fish  Commis- 
sioner of  Maryland,  who  endorsed  this  special  pat- 
tern as  the  true  one  among  a  number  of  others 
slightly  diff'erent,  but  all  of  the  same  name.  It  is 
a  bold  and  bright-colored  fly,  the  wing  with  long 
streaks  of  yellow,  red,  and  black  showing  brightly 
in  the  water,  the  green  hackle  softly  blending  with 
the  black  and  bright-golden  body. 

The  matador  was  designed  by  William  J.  Cas- 
sard,  of  New  York,  and  later  named  by  C.  F.  Orvis. 
Its  gay,  rich  dress,  having  wings  of  the  black- 
barred  feathers  of  the  wood-duck,  with  a  bold  white 
streak  running  across  the  top,  at  once  stamps  it 
as  an  excellent  bass  fly. 

133 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

The  W.  D.  Cleveland,  so  named  after  a  member 
of  the  "  Texas  Fishing  Club,"  is  somewhat  similar 
to  Dr.  Henshall's  polka,  having  a  gallina  wing  and 
red-and-black  body.  The  black  blot  at  the  top  and 
bottom  of  the  wing  is  showy;  otherwise  this  fly 
has  a  sober  brown  appearance,  but  with  distinct 
and  original  markings. 

The  Cracker  was  designed  by  Dr.  George  Trow- 
bridge, of  New  York,  and  was  intended  for  the 
fishes  of  Florida,  being  named  after  the  "  poor 
whites  "  of  that  State  and  Georgia.  Like  the  silver 
doctor,  it  is  a  good  all-round  fly  for  diff*erent  game- 
fish.  The  luckiest  models  always  contain  a  plenti- 
ful supply  of  red  in  wings  and  back,  with  yellow 
and  blue  mixed  in,  and  with  peacock  feathers  to 
blend  with  its  blue  body.  The  Cracker  is  a  remark- 
ably handsome  fly,  having  the  red  hackle  of  a 
slightly  darker  shade  than  the  red  of  the  wing. 
This  fly  is  not  so  well  known  as  its  beauty  warrants. 

The  Murray  Hill,  with  bright  body  and  wings, 
lias  a  long  red  tail,  black  hackle  and  side  feathers, 
and  resembles  to  an  astonishing  degree  a  living 
moth.  It  has  less  color  than  the  usual  bass  fly. 
Bass  have  an  eye  for  bright  and  strong  colors,  with 
deep  black  well  mixed  in  for  contrast;  in  this  they 
much  resemble  the  salmon  and  other  game-fishes. 
It  is  beyond  question  that  bright  colors  will  attract 
from  a  greater  distance.  Could  we  be  placed  where 
fish  generally  lie,  these  brilliant  butterfly  fairies 

134 


The  Cracker 

The  Ferguson 

The  JVilliam  D.  Cleveland 


The  Murray  Hill 

The  Silver  Doctor 

The  Matador 


\ 


THE     CHOICE     OF     FLIES 

dancing  on  the  top  of  the  water  would  attract  our 
attention,  and  had  we  the  bass's  pugnacious  will, 
we,  too,  might  tackle  with  avidity  the  man  encased 
in  so  bright  a  robe. 

To  the  thoughtless  casual  observer  a  fly  is  just 
a  bundle  of  feathers  jumbled  together  anyhow  — 
without  meaning.  By  no  means  is  it  so.  The  great 
and  standard  flies  have  been  evolved,  designed, 
sometimes  after  many  years  of  thoughtful  study 
of  both  nature  and  habits  of  the  fishes,  and,  the 
inventor  of  such  a  fly  as,  for  instance,  the  silver 
doctor,  unquestionably  has  conferred  a  world-wide 
benefit  for  all  time.  Such  a  fly  is  born  but  once  in 
a  very  long  time,  —  like  a  Shakespeare  or  a  Dante. 
But  all  anglers  are  of  one  mind  in  this:  that  a 
limited  variety  of  the  famous  patterns  is  all  they 
want,  although  the  designs  to  pick  from  are  as 
various  as  the  flowers  that  bloom.  Practical  fly- 
fishers  of  many  years'  standing,  like  the  late  Wil- 
liam C.  Harris,  Dr.  Henshall,  and  others,  have 
repeatedly  stated  that  in  their  experience  they  soon 
discarded  all  but  a  few  patterns.  Dr.  Henshall  has 
complete  faith  in  his  own  creations,  and  with  rea- 
son, too;  though  his  inventions  are  less  brightly 
colored  than  those  of  others,  and,  in  the  writer's 
opinion,  have  too-thick  bodies,  —  at  least  in  some 
instances.  In  only  one  of  the  five  flies  is  red  used, 
and  that  only  for  the  body  and  hackle.  On  the 
other  hand,  Mr.  Harris  was  a  staunch  believer  in 

135 


\ 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

red  and  green,  but  the  difference  in  success  may 
be  apparent  only  in  the  locality  fished  —  whether 
west  or  east.  But  all  agree  in  the  oft-repeated  rule 
that  for  dark  days  and  evenings  Ught  flies  are 
always  taken  best. 

One  of  the  greatest  advantages  is  having  confi- 
dence in  a  fly,  —  for  it  goes  a  long  way  toward 
making  it  a  success.  A  fisherman  will  almost  in- 
variably kill  the  greatest  number  of  fish  with  the 
fly  he  uses  most.  He  persists  so  long  that  from 
sheer  anger  a  game-fish  rises  to  his  lure,  and,  be  it 
said,  the  artificial  fly,  when  playing  on  the  water, 
is  more  like  the  natural  fly  than  the  average  ob- 
server would  imagine;  the  many  varieties  winging 
their  flight  on  or  near  the  water,  with  wings  cocked 
or  flat,  have  been  imitated  with  remarkable  fidel- 
ity. The  duns,  drakes,  spinners,  beetles,  ants,  and 
browns  —  all  insects  in  their  natural  state  provid- 
ing abundant  food  by  night  or  day  —  being  so  diffi- 
cult of  capture,  ingenious  man  provides  substitutes 
that  will  stay  on  the  hook  and  keep  their  form  and 
color,  in  or  on  the  water,  till  worn  out,  to  be  re- 
placed by  new  ones. 

It  is  not  to  be  inferred  that  the  writer  advises 
against  trying  any  new  patterns  that  are  invented; 
experience  will  at  once  tell  whether  a  new  fly  will 
be  likely  to  surpass  those  now  in  use,  and  it  is  quite 
possible  that  the  greatest  fly  is  yet  to  be  made  by 
some  genius,  —  a  fly  that  will  take  at  all  times, 

136 


THE     CHOICE     OF     FLIES 

in  all  places,  and  all  kinds  of  fish.  Such  a  fly  would 
make  the  designer  world-renowned  among  a  host 
of  admiring  brother  anglers.  One  has  a  secret 
thought  that  perhaps  fishing  would  be  then  too 
easy,  and  the  delightful  hope,  the  fisherman's  guide, 
would  be  gone  forever. 

But  it  is  a  noticeable  fact  that  the  great  majority 
of  bass-fishermen  use  live  bait,  —  frogs,  minnows, 
helgramites,  crajrfish,  and  eels.  They  imagine  that 
a  better-filled  creel  results  from  the  use  of  live  bait ; 
yet  fly-fishing  is  immeasurably  superior  in  every 
way.  It  is  cleaner,  less*cruel  to  bait  and  quarry, 
cheaper  and  easier  in  many  ways.  Who  has  not 
travelled  some  distance,  to  find  his  bait  short  just 
as  the  fish  are  beginning  to  bite,  or  at  times  find 
his  bait  dead  and  therefore  useless?  and  how  often 
it  happens  that  bait  costs  much  more  than  the  fish 
are  worth.  Who  cares  to  wade  through  a  stream 
with  a  can  of  minnows  dangling  in  the  water,  with 
nerves  on  edge  every  minute,  as  he  expects  their 
escape  or  loss?  Frogs  are  especially  "  cute "  in 
getting  away  either  by  forcing  the  lid  off*  the  can, 
or  jumping  in  all  directions  when  the  angler  has 
only  one  hand  at  liberty ;  and,  worse  still,  how  often 
will  they  crawl  around  a  large  stone  or  rock,  from 
which  no  amount  of  pulling  and  tugging  moves 
them,  till,  weary  of  trying,  a  sudden,  last,  desper- 
ate jerk  parts  the  leader  from  the  line. 

These  and  many  other  ills  come  not  to  the  fly- 

137 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

caster.  He  calmly  takes  his  book  of  flies,  lying 
snugly  in  his  pocket,  and  soon  replaces  or  adjusts 
a  new  cast,  right  in  mid-stream,  and  freely  begins 
anew  his  pleasant  pastime.  It  is  quite  true  that 
bass  are  not  always  in  the  humor  to  take  a  fly,  — 
the  same  may  be  said  of  salmon  and  trout,  —  but 
the  ardent  fly-caster  usually  has  patience  in  his 
make-up  to  wait  till  the  fish  will  rise  to  his  feathery 
lure,  and  this  often  happens  sooner  than  is  ex- 
pected, if  some  coaxing  is  brought  into  play. 

No  ingenious  American  has  yet  attempted  —  at 
least  to  the  writer's  knowledge  —  to  make  flies  by 
machinery;  so  that  all  are  tied  by  hand,  and  well- 
made  flies  are  necessarily  costly.  All  the  makers, 
especially  well-known  and  trustworthy  houses,  can 
supply  and  will  furnish  the  very  best,  if  paid  for 
the  extra  care  in  tying.  No  comparison  can  pos- 
sibly be  made  between  the  ten-cent  bass  fly  of  the 
bargain  stores  and  those  made  by  such  firms  as 
Abbey  &  Imbrie,  Mills,  and  Charles  F.  Orvis,  the 
latter  firm  having  made  the  sheet  of  colored  flies 
for  this  volume.  The  original  patterns  are  copied 
exactly,  and  each  firm  has  its  own  choice  set  of  pat- 
terns, besides  the  standard  kind. 

Experienced  anglers  often  say  that  bass  will 
jump  at  anything  when  they  are  in  the  humor; 
but  the  trouble  is  that  they  are  rarely  in  the  humor 
to  jump  at  any  old  rag  that  is  cast  before  them,  and 
the  only  way  to  put  them  in  a  humor  to  be  always 

138 


THE     CHOICE     OF     FLIES 

jumping  is  to  show  them  the  most  attractive  flies. 
A  fly  that  will  rise  a  fish  often  is  a  good  fly. 

Abbey  &  Imbrie,  the  New  York  fly-makers, 
found  a  like  difiiculty  in  making  a  selection  of  six 
best  flies ;  but  their  final  preference  was  for  grizzly 
king.  Colonel  Fuller,  silver  doctor,  brown  palmer. 
Lord  Baltimore,  and  Parmechenee  Belle. 

In  the  order  given:  No.  1  has  a  gray  wing  with 
red  ibis  shoulder,  warm  gray  hackle  with  a  green 
body,  red  tail  to  match  the  shoulder,  and  deep  black 
head.  No.  2  is  a  brilliant  yellow  hackle,  body  and 
wings,  with  shoulder  of  red,  black  head  and  tail. 
No.  3  is  decidedly  diff*erent  from  the  Orvis  silver 
doctor,  having  a  bright  blue  hackle,  black  head, 
with  wings  a  mixture  of  grays,  without  the  golden 
pheasant's  feathers,  the  absence  of  the  latter  taking 
away  much  of  its  beauty  in  appearance,  yet  seem- 
ing to  lessen  none  of  its  eff'ectiveness  as  a  taking 
fly.  No.  4  has  the  brown  hackle,  thick  and  bushy, 
green  head  and  body  of  peacock's  harl,  with  a 
short,  stumpy,  red  tail.  I  like  this  fly,  and,  made 
in  any  size,  —  smaller  preferred,  —  it  would  do 
great  service  for  trout.  No.  5  has  a  deep  black 
wing,  hackle,  head,  and  tail,  with  a  bright  golden 
body  and  cream-colored  spotted  shoulder;  it  is  a 
most  eff^ective-looking  fly,  but  did  not  take  as  I 
expected  on  trial.  No.  6  is  the  regulation  white 
and  red,  with  yellow  head  and  woolly  body. 

A  new  pattern  rising  rapidly  in  favor,  the  Bab- 

139 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

cock,  used  always  as  a  second  fly,  —  that  nearer  the 
rod,  —  has  bright  yellow  wings,  in  striking  contrast 
to  the  black  head  and  hackle  which  is  carried  on  by 
a  streak  of  black  up  the  yellow  wing.  With  its 
body  of  bright  scarlet  with  twisted  gold  thread  and 
its  black  tail,  it  is  both  a  gracefully  built  and  a  strik- 
ingly handsome  fly.  I  used  it  with  a  silver  doctor 
as  end  fly,  and,  on  this  cast  of  flies,  landed  fish. 

These  flies,  with  the  six  Orvis  flies  pictured  on 
the  plate,  were  specially  tested  by  the  writer,  in 
swift-running,  cold  water  of  the  Beaverkill  a  few 
miles  above  its  junction  with  the  Delaware,  and 
while,  of  course,  this  was  not  conclusive,  it  was  found 
that  the  silver  doctor,  by  both  makers,  was  far 
ahead  in  the  number  of  rises  and  of  fish  caught,  in 
the  morning  or  the  evening,  on  dull  or  bright  days. 
When  I  changed  back  to  this  successful  lure,  it 
seemed  to  be  as  enticing  to  trout  as  to  bass,  —  the 
brown  as  well  as  the  fontinalis,  or  brook,  trout, 
while  the  ever-voracious  chub,  that  rises  to  any  fly, 
took  a  particular  liking  to  this  fly.  One  large  fish 
weighing  over  three  pounds,  after  a  gamy  resist- 
ance, was  brought  to  the  net,  and,  on  extracting  the 
hook,  he  disgorged  a  good-sized  mouse  or  young 
rat  that,  no  doubt,  in  swimming  across  the  stream, 
had  just  fallen  a  victim.  The  brown  palmer,  used 
as  a  second  or  upper  fly,  hooked  a  number  of  fish. 
Another  cast,  made  up  of  the  grizzly  king  and 
Lord  Baltimore,  was  not  so  effective,  but  attracted 

140 


THE     CHOICE     OF     FLIES 

attention,  the  fish  rising,  but  returning  without 
taking  the  fly. 

I  am  inclined  to  agree  with  Mr.  Harris  that  bass 
flies  as  sold  by  the  dealers  are  far  too  large  for 
running  water,  and  are  better  suited  for  the  deep, 
dark-colored  water  of  lakes.  The  rule  is  not  infal- 
lible —  that  big  flies  catch  the  large  fish;  but  after 
dusk  the  large  fly  is  more  serviceable  in  that  both 
angler  and  fish  see  it  more  easily. 

Later,  I  carefully  trimmed  part  of  the  flies  with 
my  scissors,  reducing  the  wings  and  tail  nearly  one 
third,  the  change  being  a  decided  improvement  in 
the  Ferguson,  Cracker,  and  silver  doctor  of  the 
Orvis  flies,  and  the  silver  doctor,  Parmechenee 
Belle,  and  grizzly  king  of  the  Abbey  &  Imbrie 
flies.  While  casting  for  bass  in  what  is  known  as 
a  bass  pool,  I  landed  a  splendid  brown  trout,  on  the 
Cracker,  before  reducing  its  size;  but  at  twilight, 
and  on  three  diff^erent  occasions,  I  hooked  a  fine 
bass  on  the  trimmed  Ferguson  in  this  same  pool. 
Twice  he  got  away  while  out  of  the  water,  and  once 
he  rubbed  the  hook  off*  by  nosing  a  rock  in  the 
swirl  of  swift  water.  I  tried  him  many  times  after, 
and  on  every  occasion  he  would  leap  out  of  the 
water  once,  but  never  a  second  time. 

In  short,  after  most  careful  study  of  this  par- 
ticular kind  of  water  and  locality,  I  am  firmly  con- 
vinced that  any  fish  —  bass,  trout,  or  even  salmon 
—  will,  nine  times  out  of  ten,  go  for  the  fly  that 

141 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

has  a  shining  metaUic  body,  either  of  silver  or  of 
gold,  the  former  preferred;  and  that  this  is  the 
explanation  why  the  silver  doctor  is  so  universally 
pronounced  a  favorite  fly.  My  choice  would  be,  out 
of  a  dozen  flies,  ten  with  silver  or  gold  bodies  and 
a  varied  assortment  of  wings  and  hackles,  no  matter 
what  fish  be  the  quarry.  In  fresh  or  salt  water  the 
same  rule  would  apply,  and  size  is  more  important 
than  color.  It  is  only  in  the  latter  part  of  the  sea- 
son that  large-sized  natural  flies  are  on  the  wing. 
In  swift-running  water  the  bass  is  harder  to  land 
and  has  in  his  favor  all  the  chances  of  getting  away. 
With  movements  so  quick,  he  is  gone  in  a  flash. 
Many  times,  like  lightning,  he  rises  to  meet  the  fly, 
even  before  it  touches  the  water,  so  that  the  angler 
must  be  very  alert  to  get  ahead,  if  the  bass  is  to 
be  hooked  at  all.  To  the  fly-fisherman  there  is  no 
more  inspiring  sight  than  a  fair-sized  bass,  leaping 
out  of  the  foaming,  rapid  water;  in  a  second,  head 
up,  with  fly  in  his  lips,  shaking  his  whole  body  in 
anger  and  fright;  slipping  down  again,  to  tear 
off^  up  stream;  the  reel  singing  a  lively  tune.  We 
ask  ourselves  every  time:  "  Will  he  get  away? " 


142 


NOTES  ON  THE  COOKING  OF  BASS 


NOTES  ON   THE  COOKING  OF  BASS 


FOR  good  eating,  both  fresh-water  bass  and 
salt-water  bass  should  be  perfectly  fresh, 
scaled  or  skinned,  well  washed,  and 
cooked  to  a  nicety.  All  the  different 
kinds  of  bass  dry  up  quickly;  the  scales  harden 
soon  after  being  placed  in  the  creel  or  in  the  boat, 
especially  in  the  warm  sun,  and  when  the  bottom 
of  the  boat  is  dry.  A  good  method  to  keep  the  fish 
moist  is  to  have  the  creel  lined  with  wet  moss,  and 
in  the  boat  a  plain  covered  box  with  a  few  handf uls 
of  damp  grass  or  ferns.  By  this  means  the  angler, 
on  his  return  to  camp  or  hotel,  if  he  is  to  be  his 
own  cook,  will  find  the  fish  ready  for  scaling  and 
cutting. 

A  medium-sized  bass  of  three  pounds  may  be 
fried,  baked,  or  boiled.  Its  flesh  is  firm,  white, 
and  juicy,  and  the  taste  of  the  fish  is  improved  if 
mushrooms  or  small  onions  are  used  in  the  cooking. 

For  frying,  scale,  cut  oif  the  fins,  take  off  the 
head,  and  cut  down  the  back  clear  to  the  back-bone. 

10  145 


THE    basses:    fresh-water   and    marine 

Open  up  the  fish  and  take  away  the  inside;  wash 
and  dry;  then  scatter  pepper,  salt,  and  flour,  dip 
in  beaten  eggs,  and  roll  in  cracker-crumbs  or  baked 
stale  bread  pounded  fine.  Have  the  fat  smoking 
hot,  and  enough  to  cover  the  fish.  Cook  until 
brown.  Some  chopped  parsley  cooked  for  a  minute 
along  with  a  few  slices  of  green  onion-tops  give  it 
a  relish.  Serve  the  fish  with  a  garnish  of  watercress 
and  sliced  lemon. 

For  baking,  scale  the  fish  and  remove  the  gills. 
Leave  the  head  on,  but  remove  the  inside;  wash, 
and  then  dry.  Make  a  stuffing  as  follows:  Beat 
two  eggs,  and  add  four  chopped  oysters,  two  sliced 
and  boned  sardines,  one  cup  of  grated  bread,  some 
chopped  onion,  minced  parsley,  a  little  pounded 
mace,  black  pepper,  allspice,  and  salt.  Beat  a  piece 
of  butter  in  the  stewpan.  Stir  the  whole  dressing 
together  over  the  fire  till  of  the  consistence  of  a 
thick  batter.  Fill  the  fish  with  the  stuffing  and  sew 
it  up.  Put  some  slices  of  fat  pork  into  small  holes 
made  through  the  skin  of  the  back.  Bake  in  a  mod- 
erate oven,  basting  with  plenty  of  butter,  and  serve 
garnished  with  pickled  mushrooms,  parsley,  and 
anchovy  s-auce. 

To  broil  fresh-water  bass,  clean  the  fish  in  the 
same  manner  as  for  frying.  Rub  it  over  with  oil 
or  butter  to  keep  the  skin  from  sticking,  and  grease 
the  broiler  with  salt  pork.  Have  the  fire  hot  and 
clear,  a  wood  fire  being  the  best.    Keep  constantly 

146 


NOTES     ON     THE     COOKING    OF     BASS 

turning  till  done.  Place  the  fish  on  a  hot  dish, 
season  with  salt  and,  pepper  and  a  lump  of  butter, 
spread  over  anchovy  or  tomato  sauce  with  a  garnish 
of  watercress  and  sliced  lemon. 

What  bass-fisherman  can  forget  the  delightful 
luncheon  prepared  by  the  guides  on  one  of  those 
little  islands  of  the  St.  Lawrence  round  about  Clay- 
ton, N.  Y.?  Should  he  be  the  fortunate  possessor 
of  an  island  he  could  hardly  fare  better.  After 
sailing  or  rowing  around  with  unfailing  luck,  the 
anglers  are  landed  and  led  to  a  shady  grove  where 
every  requisite  for  the  mid-day  open-air  meal  is  to 
be  found.  A  neat  little  folding  table  appears, 
whereon  is  spread  a  clean  cloth  with  knives  and 
forks.  The  guide  knows  what  he  is  about,  and  with 
remarkable  quickness  he  has  ready  a  fire,  frying- 
pan,  and  fat.  Everything  is  done  in  such  a  cleanly, 
workmanlike  fashion  that  one's  appetite  is  whetted 
to  a  turn.  If  bass  were  ever  better  cooked  or  tasted 
more  agreeably,  we  would  be  glad  to  hear  of  it.  A 
bass  cooked  rapidly  within  an  hour  after  leaving  the 
water  tastes  solid,  crisp,  and  sweet. 

It  may  be  a  fancy  that  these  guides  cook  so  well; 
it  may  only  be  that  our  appetites  are  keen  from  the 
active  sport,  yet  it  is  a  feature  of  the  game  and  we 
are  content.  Even  the  coffee  they  make  is  far 
better  than  that  supplied  by  many  city  hotels. 

Up  in  Maine,  after  a  morning's  fishing,  the 
guides  will  push  their  boat  or  canoe  on  shore  at 

147 


THE    basses:     fresh-water    and    marine 

some  spot  daily  used  by  them,  at  which  impromptu 
tables,  chairs  of  logs  or  old  boxes,  are  to  be  found, 
as  well  as  a  fireplace  of  stones  ready  for  the  wood 
to  be  placed  and  lit.  One  guide  shoulders  a  box 
with  all  the  necessary  things,  —  round  frying-pan 
without  a  handle,  bread,  butter,  pickles,  and  crock- 
ery. The  meal  is  soon  ready.  These  guides  invari- 
ably fry  the  fish.  Yet,  if  you  want,  they  will  as 
quickly  bake  it  or  boil  it,  —  in  a  primitive  way. 
They  will  take  a  good-sized  bass,  just  out  of  the 
water,  without  cleaning,  wrap  it  up  in  wet  paper, 
and  place  it  in  the  red-hot  coals,  testing  it  now  and 
then  with  a  fork.  When  the  fork  goes  through 
easily  the  fish  is  cooked.  Fifteen  minutes  is  long 
enough.  They  then  carefully  remove  the  fish  from 
the  paper,  leaving  the  skin  adherent  thereto,  season 
it  with  butter,  salt,  and  pepper,  and  serve  it.  Some 
Canadian  guides  provide  parsley,  flour,  and  eggs, 
with  which  they  make  a  tasty  sauce. 

Fresh-water  bass  is  unsuited  for  boiling.  It 
seems  to  lose  its  rich  flavor,  and  does  not  compare 
with  other  ways  of  cooking.  Salt-water  bass,  on 
the  other  hand,  —  either  striped,  sea,  or  black  bass, 
—  are  by^ar  the  finest  dish  if  boiled.  No  salt-water 
fish  can  compare  with  boiled  bass  either  for  richness 
of  taste  or  whiteness  and  firmness  of  flesh.  It  has 
no  peer  —  at  least  in  our  waters.  The  small  red 
mullet  caught  around  the  coast  of  England  has  a 
similar  taste,  but  it  is  a  rare  and  expensive  fish, 

148 


5x0 


\ 


NOTES     ON     THE     COOKING     OF     BASS 

while  here  bass  are  reasonable  in  price  and  com- 
paratively plentiful  the  greater  part  of  the  year, 
though  striped  bass  soars  up  to  forty  or  fifty  cents 
a  pound  in  March  and  April.  This  noble  fish,  with 
its  striped  coat,  is  beautiful  to  the  eye,  a  bold  and 
defiant  fighter,  and,  when  fresh  and  well  cooked, 
a  delicate  and  dainty  dish  for  the  table.  Like  the 
salmon  it  is  a  clean  feeder  and  grows  to  an  im- 
mense size  at  times;  yet  it  always  retains  the  deli- 
cacy of  flavor  it  had  when  a  youngster  of  but  twelve 
inches  long. 

The  fish  should  be  ready  for  the  kettle  within 
an  hour  of  his  demise.  To  cook  a  ten-pound  fish 
proceed  as  follows: 

Scale  and  clean  it;  then  cut  off  the  fins,  leaving 
the  tail  and  the  head  intact.  Cut  it  into  three  parts, 
to  allow  of  its  being  placed  in  the  kettle.  Take  a 
piece  of  cord  and  wrap  around  the  head  under  and 
above  the  middle  piece  and  round  the  tail  piece,  so 
that  the  fish  will  be  together  when  cooked.  Lay  it 
back  in  its  natural  position,  with  garnishings  over 
the  cuts.  Use  sufficient  water  to  cover  the  fish,  a 
tablespoonful  of  vinegar,  a  teaspoonful  of  salt  to 
every  two  quarts  of  water,  some  bay  leaves,  and 
soup-vegetables  for  flavor.  Lower  the  fish  gradu- 
ally into  warm  water.  Boil  it  quickly,  then  draw 
it  aside  to  simmer  till  done.  Lift  up  the  strainer 
carefully  from  the  kettle  and  drain  it  well.  Place 
it  on  a  dish  with  a  napkin  well  trimmed  with  pars- 

149 


THE   basses:     fres  h-w  ater  and   marine 

ley.  Arrange  slices  of  lemon,  slices  of  hard-boiled 
eggs,  some  chopped  pickles,  and  a  few  capers,  with 
boiled  potato-balls  around  the  dish,  and  serve  with 
a  rich  Hollandaise  sauce.  Black  or  sea  bass  can  be 
cooked  in  the  same  way. 

In  roasting  and  frying,  much  the  same  method 
can  be  used  as  that  mentioned  for  fresh- water  bass, 
except  that  in  baking  or  roasting  a  httle  more  fat 
is  required.  In  my  judgment  the  flesh  of  the  sea- 
basses  has  no  equal  in  salt-water  fishes,  no  matter 
which  way  they  are  cooked,  providing  they  are  well 
cooked,  for  underdone  fish  is  uneatable.  If  over- 
done it  loses  its  flavor  or  is  too  dry.  Some  prefer 
fish  served  with  all  its  skin  removed.  This  can  be 
done  either  before  or  after  cooking.  If  before, 
skin  from  the  head,  loosen  and  strip  it  down  with 
the  aid  of  a  sharp  knife. 

In  carving  a  fish,  when  cooked,  always  cut  to 
the  bone  in  slices,  then  remove  the  bone  and  cut 
as  before.  Even  a  small  fish  should  not  be  cut 
right  through.  Remove  first  the  whole  of  the  side 
that  is  uppermost  as  it  lies  in  the  dish. 

The  fresh- water  basses  can  be  filleted  with  great 
advantage  and  little  loss  of  flesh.  First  scale  thor- 
oughly, and  remove  the  fins ;  then  cut  carefully  from 
the  back,  closely  shaving  the  back-bone  to  the  belly, 
repeating  the  same  work  on  the  other  side,  and  the 
skeleton  remains  with  little  flesh,  if  care  be  taken  in 
the  work.    These  fillets  can  be  cut  in  two  and  fried 

150 


NOTES     ON     THE     COOKING     OF     BASS 

in  crumbs,  or  rolled  up  and  placed  in  the  tin  for 
roasting.  If  the  latter,  a  good-sized  lump  of  butter 
should  be  placed  in  the  roll,  with  salt  and  pepper, 
some  chopped  parsley,  and  a  little  white  wine,  with 
a  scattering  of  flour  to  help  brown  the  fish.  In  a 
sharp  oven,  it  should  be  cooked  in  thirty  minutes, 
served  with  or  without  sauce,  with  small  new  pota- 
toes and  boiled  peas. 

Should  our  gentle  angler  land  an  extra-large 
black  bass,  and  not  desire  to  have  him  mounted  as 
a  trophy  of  his  skill,  but  prefer  to  eat  him,  why 
should  he  not  cook  him  in  grand  style,  —  show  his 
friends  what  a  beauty  the  bass  is  dressed  out  with 
a  garniture  of  crayfish,  of  which  in  life  he  had  his 
share?  Between  the  red  crayfish  place  sprigs  of 
parsley  and  halves  of  boiled  eggs.  Remove  the 
skin,  to  show  the  bass's  white  and  flaky  flesh,  which 
cannot  fail  to  induce  the  guest  or  angling  friend 
to  show  impatience  at  delay  in  falling  to  the 
feast. 

Foreign  cooks  adopt  more  pretentious  methods 
in  cooking  fish,  —  not  only  in  cooking,  but  in  the 
addition  of  sauces  and  elaborate  garniture.  These 
notes,  being  less  pretentious,  are  confined  to  simple 
cooking  in  home  or  camp.  Finally  the  conclusion 
of  the  whole  matter  is  that,  unless  the  fish  are  abso- 
lutely fresh,  they  are  utterly  worthless,  and  that 
marine  basses  require  less  salt  than  fresh-water 
basses. 

151 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

In  fact,  a  good  plan  to  get  better  results  would 
be  to  soak  fresh- water  fish  in  strong  salted  water 
for  thirty  minutes,  especially  if  the  fish  are  caught 
in  lakes  or  pools.  By  this  means  the  flavor  is  im- 
proved, and  the  unpleasant  muddy  taste  done  away 
with. 

The  case  is  different  with  striped  bass  or  sea 
bass;  less  salt  is  necessary,  and  if  properly  boiled, 
baked,  broiled,  or  fried,  there  is  not  a  fish  that  is 
more  delicious  than  these,  especially  the  striped 
bass. 


152 


ARTIFICIAL  LURES 

FOR  BLACK  BASS 


ARTIFICIAL   LURES   FOR   BLACK   BASS 
By  JAMES  A.  CRUIKSHANK 

THE  black  basses  have  a  special  interest 
for  the  sport-loving  angler  by  reason  of 
the  variety  of  methods  by  which  they 
may  be  taken.  In  many  waters  they  will 
rise  readily  to  the  artificial  fly.  A  small  spinner 
or  spoon,  preceding  a  fly  of  fairly  good  size,  fur- 
nishes a  lure  light  enough  to  use  with  a  heavy  fly- 
rod,  and  will  generally  produce  abundant  sport 
when  the  fish  are  taking  a  surface  bait.  Natural 
bait,  such  as  minnows,  frogs,  helgramites,  grass- 
hoppers, crickets,  worms,  and  even  small  mice,  will 
each  be  found  taking  at  times.  And  artificial  lures, 
—  some  in  imitation  of  minnows,  frogs,  helgra- 
mites, bugs,  and  mice,  others  of  startling  origi- 
nality as  to  form,  color,  and  motion  either  in  air  or 
water,  and  resembling  nothing  ever  seen  by  the  eye 
of  man  in  the  air,  on  the  earth,  or  in  the  waters 
under  the  earth,  —  are  now  off^ered  in  bewildering 
profusion.    Despite  the  first  impression  of  the  in- 

155 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

credulous  angler,  many  of  these  strange  devices  will 
bring  rises  and  strikes  a-plenty. 

Bass  may  be  taken  in  swift-running  rivers  by 
methods  analogous  to  those  of  fly-fishing  for  trout. 
In  ponds  and  lakes  they  may  be  taken  by  casting 
and  trolling,  either  with  natural  bait  or  artificial 
lures,  or  by  still-fishing  with  natural  bait.  Prob- 
ably no  other  game-fish  taken  by  the  American 
angler  responds  to  such  a  variety  of  lures  presented 
in  such  a  variety  of  methods. 

The  recent  popularity  of  the  new  sport  of  bait- 
casting  has  served  greatly  to  increase  interest  in 
angling  for  black  bass,  and  has  largely  stimulated 
the  production  of  artificial  lures. 

In  the  new  form  of  bait-casting,  from  the  reel, 
with  the  short  rod,  the  shape  and  weight  of  the 
artificial  lure  and  its  easy  flight  through  the  air  are 
of  much  importance;  on  them  depend  the  distance 
and  accuracy  of  the  cast.  With  a  lure  weighing 
an  ounce  or  more,  casts  averaging  much  over  a 
hundred  feet  are  made  by  good  casters.  More 
good  water  may  be  covered  by  this  method  in  a 
short  time  than  by  any  other,  and  it  exactly  meets 
the  restless  American's  love  for  activity  and  change 
of  scene  even  in  his  pastimes.         "^ 

Natural,  or  live,  bait  has  distinct  disadvantages. 
It  is  difficult,  sometimes  impossible,  to  obtain ;  does 
not  live  long  in  confinement;  is  frequently  unsuited 
to  the  waters  to  which  it  may  be  transported ;  is  not 

156 


ARTIFICIAL     LURES     FOR     BLACK     BASS 

pleasant  to  handle,  either  aHve  or  dead;  and  can  be 
counted  upon  for  only  a  very  few  casts,  when  its 
usefulness  ends. 

The  ingenious  American,  alert  for  improve- 
ments, humanely  inclined,  and  impatient  of  the 
time  wasted  in  obtaining  live  bait,  has  set  himself 
assiduously  to  the  production  of  artificial  lures 
which  would  take  game-fishes.    He  has  found  them. 

"  Will  take  more  fish  than  live  bait,"  the  phrase 
employed  by  not  a  few  of  the  manufacturers  of 
these  lures,  may  have  furnished  the  unthinking 
with  cause  for  merriment;  but  the  critical  expert, 
who  carefully  tests  each  new  device,  will  find  that 
in  many  cases  the  claim  is  fully  justified  by  results. 
The  writer  is  among  the  enthusiastic  converts  to 
the  modern  artificial  black-bass  lure.  He  has  per- 
sonally tested  every  new  lure  which  has  come  into 
prominence  during  the  last  five  years,  on  waters 
ranging  from  the  famous  Belgrade  Lakes,  of 
Maine,  to  ponds  within  sight  of  New  York's  sky- 
scrapers, and  has  compared  results,  side  by  side, 
with  anglers  using  the  best  of  native  live  baits. 
The  modern  artificial  lures,  properly  rigged  and 
handled,  need  fear  competition  with  no  live  bait  so 
far  discovered. 

Yet  the  curious  fact  remains  that,  although  we 
have  many  champions  of  the  exclusive  use  of  the 
fly  for  trout,  salmon,  and  ouananiche,  we  have  very 
few  champions  of  the  exclusive  use  of  the  artificial 

157 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

lure  for  black  bass.  It  must  be  because  our  anglers 
are  unfamiliar  with  the  recorded  facts. 

The  lures  illustrated  are  a  careful  selection  of 
the  best  now  on  the  market.  It  will  be  observed 
that  in  each  case  the  treble  hooks,  furnished  by  the 
manufacturers  as  part  of  the  equipment,  have  been 
removed  and  single  hooks  substituted.  The  strong 
tendency  of  the  day  in  this  direction  is  shown  by 
the  option  in  hooks  now  being  offered  by  the 
makers  of  many  of  the  lures,  and  by  the  legislative 
enactments  of  several  States,  prohibiting  the  use 
of  the  treble  hook. 

The  Worden  buck-tail  minnow  (No.  1)  is  fash- 
ioned from  the  stiff  hair  of  a  deer's  tail.  The  affin- 
ity between  black  bass  and  deer-tail  hair  has  not 
satisfactorily  been  explained;  nevertheless,  this 
lure  has  a  firmly  established  reputation  as  one  of 
the  most  effective  inventions  ever  offered  to  the 
angler.  It  may  be  used  above  or  below  the  sur- 
face and  will  gain  much  by  the  addition  of  a  spoon. 
The  Bacon  spoon  shown  with  it  is  unquestionably 
the  finest  spoon  yet  produced:  it  folds  back  against 
the  wire  shank  while  travelling  through  the  air, 
and  spins  very  freely  even  when  drawn  slowly 
through  the  water.  Nickel  or  silver  finish,  on 
both  sides  of  the  spoon,  is  to  be  recommended. 
The  habit  of  painting  the  concave  side  of  spoons 
a  brilliant  red,  has,  in  my  opinion,  nothing  in  its 
favor. 

158 


Bass  Lures  now  in  Use 


ARTIFICIAL     LURES     FOR    BLACK     BASS 

The  "  Dowagiac  "  lures,  of  which  there  are  sev- 
eral, are  comparatively  new  comers  which  have 
already  won  their  place  as  leaders.  The  Dowagiac 
rainbow  minnow  (No.  2) ,  having  green  back,  shad- 
ing through  yellow  or  orange  sides  to  white  on 
the  belly,  is  the  most  killing  minnow  yet  offered 
to  the  gamy  black  bass.  It  is  equally  killing  when 
used  for  large  brook-trout,  togue,  salmon,  mas- 
calonge,  and  pickerel.  Having  spinners  turning 
in  opposite  directions,  the  lure  does  not  turn,  there- 
fore no  kinking  occurs,  and  it  is  correctly  weighted. 

The  Dowagiac  bronze  minnow  (No.  3),  round, 
and  having  only  one  spinner,  is  frequently  as  use- 
ful as  the  rainbow  minnow.  It  will  be  observed 
that  in  this  lure  the  tail  hook  is  very  close  to  the 
body  of  the  minnow.  This  arrangement  is  impor- 
tant where  the  fish  are  striking  short,  and  may  be 
employed  with  any  of  the  Dowagiac  lures.  The 
careful  workmanship  and  finish  of  these  lures  will 
delight  any  critical  angler. 

The  silver  soldier  (No.  4)  is  made  of  coin  silver, 
shaped  and  finished  in  careful  imitation  of  a  small 
minnow,  and  slightly  curved  so  that  the  motion 
through  the  water  is  darting  and  not  rotary.  A 
single  hook  is  firmly  soldered  onto  the  side  of  the 
minnow.  This  lure  has  been  found  very  killing, 
not  only  for  black  bass,  but  also  for  trout,  salmon, 
and  several  varieties  of  salt-water  game-fishes, 
especially  the  striped  bass  and  bluefish.    When  used 

159 


THE   basses:    fres  h-w  ater   and    marine 

in  salt-water,  however,  the  larger  size,  with  a  hook 
of  heavier  calibre,  should  be  employed. 

Shakespeare's  Revolution  (No.  5),  as  the  result 
of  large  advertising  and  genuine  merit,  is  famous 
far  and  wide.  Of  large  size,  aluminum  body,  with 
propellers  on  blades  revolving  in  opposite  direc- 
tions, it  creates  "  a  wake  like  a  steamboat's  "  on 
moderately  still  water.  Although  wonderfully  ef- 
fective on  Western  and  Southern  waters,  it  has 
never  achieved  remarkable  success  in  the  waters  of 
thickly  settled  communities;  but  it  is  well  worth  a 
place  in  the  outfit,  and  will  generally  arouse  the 
pugnacious  instincts  of  big  bass. 

Mill's  Yellow  Kid  (No.  6),  on  the  other  hand, 
is  distinctively  an  Eastern  lure  and  has  not  yet 
many  friends  in  the  West..  It  is  of  tin  construction, 
painted  bright  yellow  with  gold  spots,  and,  like  the 
preceding  lure,  makes  a  tremendous  wake  when 
drawn  over  the  water.  In  case  the  fish  are  biting 
"  high,"  single  hooks  may  be  added  at  the  sides  of 
the  body,  but  I  have  not  usually  found  them  neces- 
sary. Few  lures  will  produce  as  many  rises  as  this 
one. 

The  coaxer  (No.  7) ,  having  body  of  cork,  enam- 
elled white,  wings  of  red  flannel,  waterproofed,  and 
tail  of  large  red  feathers,  is  built  upon  the  ingeni- 
ous principle  of  imitating  a  bug  while  in  flight  as 
well  as  when  on  the  water.  Experienced  anglers 
for  black  bass  are  familiar  with  the  fact  that  the 

160 


ARTIFICIAL     LURES     FOR     BLACK     BASS 

bass  frequently  starts  for  a  lure  before  it  reaches 
the  water;  perhaps  every  casting-lure  ought  to 
be  constructed  with  reference  to  this  fact.  The 
coaxer  has  taken  many  good  fish  during  its  short 
life,  and  may  be  recommended  in  confidence.  In 
Eastern  waters,  the  smaller  size  should  be  used, 
while  the  larger  size  is  successful  in  better  adapted 
Western  and  Southern  waters. 

The  Mohawk  darter  (No.  8)  is  a  flat  metal  min- 
now, nickel-plated,  and  is  drawn  through  the  water 
by  a  wire  hinged  somewhat  back  from  the  extreme 
front  end.  By  this  arrangement  an  oscillating  or 
darting  motion  is  given,  while  a  slight  twist  in  the 
tail  tends  to  keep  the  lure  slowly  turning  over.  In 
principle  this  device  has  much  to  commend  it,  and 
its  killing  quality  is  not  limited  to  black  bass ;  salt- 
water fish  strike  at  it  readily.  It  should  prove  a 
very  effective  lure  for  striped  bass. 

The  best  of  the  several  varieties  of  artificial  frogs 
now  offered  the  angler  is  the  hollow  rubber  frog 
(No.  9),  and  there  are  times  when  these  imitations 
will  prove  excellent  lures.  I  have  found  that  frog 
with  the  brown  back  and  cream-colored  belly  the 
most  successful,  although  my  habit  is  to  paint  my 
artificial  frogs  in  careful  imitation  of  the  animals 
native  to  the  waters  I  am  fishing.  And  it  is  also 
good  sense  to  paint  both  sides  of  these  lures  in 
imitation  of  the  belly  of  the  frog  only,  since  frogs, 
either  natural  or  artificial,  when  cast  by  an  angler, 

11  161 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

have  a  persistent  way  of  landing  on  their  backs. 
When  I  make  a  frog,  therefore,  he  has  no  back. 

The  phantom  minnow  (No.  10),  hollow,  made 
of  silk,  and  painted  in  Various  colors,  is  very  fre- 
quently a  successful  lure  for  black  bass.  The  blue- 
back,  silver-belly  coloration  has  proven  most  useful 
in  my  hands.  The  gang-hooks  should  be  removed, 
and  a  single  hook  substituted.  This  single  hook 
I  attach  by  cutting  a  very  small  slit  in  the  belly  of 
the  minnow,  passing  in  the  head  of  a  good-sized 
needle-eyed  O'Shaughnessy  hook,  and  fastening 
the  hook  by  means  of  fine  piano-wire  to  the  cross- 
bar in  the  mouth  of  the  minnow.  A  second  hook, 
similarly  attached,  may  be  located  in  the  tail  of  the 
minnow,  if  desired;  but  as  a  rule  the  hooks  which 
are  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  lure  are  those  which 
take  the  fish.  All  game-fish  have  the  habit  of 
attacking  their  prey  from  the  side,  after  which  the 
victim  is  turned  and  swallowed  head  first. 

The  pilot  (No.  11),  and  the  similar  devices 
known  as  the  turn-a-frog  and  pilot  spinner,  are 
extremely  ingenious  little  articles  by  which  a  lure 
or  bait  may  be  made  to  swim  deep  or  on  the  surface. 
They  are  made  of  aluminum,  are  small,  light  in 
weight,  do  not  interfere  with  distance  or  accuracy 
in  casting,  and  will  positively  prevent  a  spinner  or 
spoon  from  twisting  or  kinking  the  line. 

There  is  very  great  difference  between  the 
management  of  live  bait  and  artificial  lures  in 


ARTIFICIAL     LURES     FOR     BLACK     BASS 

angling  for  black  bass.  With  live  bait  the  fish  is 
often  permitted  to  take  his  time  and  ample  quan- 
tity of  line,  —  I  have  even  known  one  expert  angler 
to  feed  out  a  hundred  feet  of  line  before  he  struck 
his  fish.  When  using  artificial  lures  one  must  strike 
on  the  instant  that  any  sensation  of  attack  on  the 
lure  is  felt;  indeed,  when  the  bass  can  be  seen 
making  for  the  lure,  the  strike  may  even  be  timed 
in  advance. 

Again,  the  invariable  rule  is  to  keep  an  artificial 
lure  moving.  Even  in  case  of  a  savage  rise  where 
the  fish  misses  the  lure,  it  should  not  be  stopped,  but 
reeled  slowly  in  and  cast  again. 

Probably  in  no  country  of  the  world  is  the  angler 
provided  with  so  many  ingenious  and  practical 
devices  intended  to  increase  his  pleasure.  Let  not 
undue  conservatism  rob  him  of  the  additional  plea- 
sure so  near  at  hand. 


163 


THE  STRIPED  BASS 


Family 

THE  family  to  which  this  fish  belongs  con- 
tains a  great  many  members  differing 
widely  in  size  and  other  characteristics, 
and  inhabiting  the  fresh  waters  as  well 
as  the  ocean.  Those  which  are  best  known  to  the 
angler  and  most  nearly  related  to  the  striped  bass 
are  the  white  bass,  yellow  bass,  and  white  perch, 
all  of  which  except  the  last  are  fresh-water  resi- 
dents. The  white  perch  lives  equally  well  in  fresh, 
brackish,  or  salt  water. 

The  marine  relatives  of  the  striped  bass  are  the 
common  Northern  sea-bass,  sometimes  called  black- 
fish;  the  Southern  forms  of  sea-bass;  and  some 
smaller  tribes  of  little  importance  to  the  angler. 
These  are  by  no  means  the  only  elements  of  the 
great  family  of  Basses  or  Serranidce,  A  bewilder- 
ing variety  of  groupers  flourishing  in  the  near-by 
and  remote  seas  constitute  the  bulk  of  the  series; 
but  these  do  not  come  within  the  scope  of  this  work, 

167 


THE   basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and  marine 

as  for  the  most  part  they  represent  offshore  fish- 
eries or  countries  remote  from  our  own.  Suffice 
it  to  mention  in  this  connection  one  celebrated 
species,  well  known  on  the  Pacific  coast  as  a  sea- 
bass,  although  quite  different  from  all  the  sea- 
basses,  so  called,  in  the  East.  This  refers  to  the 
giant  jewfish  of  California  and  the  Gulf  of  Mex- 
ico, which  is  styled  guasa  by  natives  of  Spanish 
origin.  The  guasa  sometimes  attains  a  weight  of 
four  hundred  pounds.  It  takes  the  hook  freely, 
but  has  no  superiority  over  the  common  codfish  for 
sport. 

The  Genus  Roccus 

The  striped  bass  belongs  to  the  genus  Roccus,  a 
name  invented  by  Dr.  Mitchill,  nearly  a  century 
ago,  with  reference  to  one  of  the  common  names 
of  this  bass,  the  word  being  dog-Latin  for  "  rock." 

Description 

The  genus  Roccus  has  two  patches  of  small  teeth 
on  the  base  of  the  tongue;  the  lower  jaw  is  much 
longer  than  the  upper ;  the  scales  on  the  cheeks  are 
nearly  smooth  along  their  margin;  and  the  back 
fins  are  separated  by  a  narrow  space.  Another 
characteristic  of  some  importance  is  the  structure 
of  the  spines  behind  the  vent,  which  increase  regu- 
larly in  size  from  the  first  to  the  third.  The  striped- 
bass  genus  is  further  distinguished  by  a  rather 

168 


THE     STRIPED     BASS 

elongate  and  stout  body,  while  the  peduncle  of  the 
tail  is  slender. 

The  greatest  depth  of  the  body  of  this  bass 
equals  the  length  of  the  head,  and  it  is  two  sevenths 
of  the  entire  length  of  the  fish  without  the  tail-fin. 
The  eye  is  small,  one  half  as  long  as  the  snout,  and 
contained  from  six  to  eight  times  in  the  length  of 
the  head;  it  is  placed  high,  near  the  top  of  the 
head.  The  jaw-bone  reaches  to  below  the  middle 
of  the  eye.  The  anal  spines  are  slender,  the  third 
and  longest  about  one  fifth  as  long  as  the  head. 
The  fourth  and  fifth  spines  of  the  first  back-fin  are 
the  longest,  about  two  fifths  as  long  as  the  head. 
The  breast-fin  (pectoral)  is  a  little  longer  than  the 
belly-fin  (ventral)  and  one  half  as  long  as  the  head. 

There  are  nine  spines  in  the  first  fin  on  the  back, 
one  spine  and  eleven  or  twelve  rays  in  the  second 
dorsal  fin.  The  anal  fin  has  three  spines  and  ten 
or  eleven  rays.  There  are  seven  rows  of  scales  be- 
tween the  lateral  line  and  the  first  dorsal  fin,  nine- 
teen rows  between  the  lateral  line  and  the  ventral 
fin,  and  sixty-five  scales  in  the  lateral  line  itself. 
This  is  an  average  number  of  scales,  which  will 
be  bound  to  vary  among  individuals. 

The  sides  are  greenish  or  olivaceous  above,  sil- 
very below,  sometimes  with  a  brassy  lustre.  They 
are  marked  by  seven  or  eight  longitudinal  streaks, 
none  of  which  are  half  as  wide  as  the  eye,  one  of 
them  passing  along  the  lateral  line.     The  lower- 

169 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

most  stripe  is  somewhat  below  the  middle  of  the 
body  depth.  In  life  these  stripes  are  purplish  blue, 
fading  to  slate  and  light  brown.  The  whole  body- 
is  also  beautifully  iridescent  and  presents  one  of 
the  most  pleasing  pictures  in  the  whole  range  of 
game-fishes.  In  addition  to  the  beautiful  play 
of  colors  this  bass  is  trim  and  shapely,  swift  in 
movement,  and  possessed  of  great  strength  and 
curming,  qualities  which  combine  to  make  it  one 
of  the  greatest  favorites  in  the  angler's  category. 
It  seems  wonderful  that  a  fish  which  sometimes 
surpasses  100  pounds  in  weight  should  develop 
from  an  egg  smaller  than  that  of  the  shad,  and 
from  an  embryo  which  when  newly  hatched  is  less 
than  a  quarter  of  an  inch  long.  The  egg  of  the 
striped  bass  is  scarcely  half  as  bulky  as  that  of 
the  Atlantic  salmon,  yet  its  product  is  much  larger 
than  that  of  the  largest  salmon  on  record. 

Common  Names 

In  the  northern  United  States  the  name  "  striped 
bass  "  is  more  generally  used  than  any  other  for 
this  fish,  especially  along  the  coast.  In  the  Dela- 
ware, Susquehanna,  and  Potomac  rivers  it  is  called 
"  rockfish,"  which  was  one  of  the  early  New  York 
names  for  this  species.  Schoepf,  a  German  writer 
who  came  to  the  United  States  during  our  Revo- 
lutionary war,  heard  the  names  "  rockfish "  and 

170 


TH  E     STRIPED     BASS 

"  striped  bass"  at  New  York.  In  1814  Dr.  Mit- 
ehill  caUed  it  "  Mitchill's  perch,"  "  striped  basse," 
and  "  rockfish."  Dr.  James  Mease,  about  the  same 
time,  gave  a  very  interesting  account  of  the  fish 
under  the  name  of  "  streaked  bass."  In  the 
same  article  he  stated  that  rockfish  weighing  from 
twenty-five  to  sixty  pounds  are  called  "  green- 
heads."  "  Greenhead  "  and  "  squid-hound  "  are 
names  appUed  to  large  individuals  found  in  ocean 
waters  of  New  England. 

Distribution 

Natural.  —  The  natural  range  of  the  striped  bass 
includes  the  entire  Atlantic  coast  from  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  to  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  the  fish  en- 
tering rivers  and  ascending  them  almost  to  their 
head  waters  unless  stopped  by  natural  or  artificial 
obstructions.  Individuals  are  known  to  have  been 
taken  every  year  in  the  Alabama  River,  including 
some  of  large  size.  The  fish  has  also  been  captured 
in  the  lower  Mississippi.  In  the  vicinity  of  Pensa- 
cola,  Fla.,  examples  were  occasionally  obtained 
some  years  ago.  Dr.  G.  Brown  Goode  stated  that 
it  was  rather  rare  in  the  St.  Johns  River,  Fla.,  at 
the  time  of  his  investigations.  In  the  great  bays 
and  sounds  from  North  Carolina  to  Cape  Cod  it  is 
sometimes  very  abundant  now.  Many  large  in- 
dividuals have  been  taken  in  Albemarle  Sound. 

171 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

At  Edenton,  N.  C,  Dr.  Capehart  has  caught  fif- 
teen tons  at  one  haul,  many  of  the  fish  weighing 
from  seventy-five  to  eighty  pounds  each.  At  an- 
other haul  820  fish  weighing  37,000  pounds  were 
captured.  A  still  larger  seine-haul  contained  nine- 
teen tons  of  striped  bass,  among  which  were  600 
individuals  averaging  sixty  pounds  each,  and  sev- 
eral weighing  105  pounds. 

There  is  a  record  also  of  a  seine-haul  containing 
1,500  striped  bass,  near  Norfolk,  Va.  These  facts 
are  given  to  show  the  great  centres  of  abundance 
on  the  Atlantic  coast.  It  is  not  certain  whether  the 
capture  of  such  large  numbers  of  bass  at  particular 
points  reduces  the  angler's  chances  in  waters  far- 
ther north,  because  this  bass  appears  to  be  more 
truly  local  in  its  habitation  and  less  given  to  wan- 
dering along  the  coast  than  one  might  at  first  blush 
suppose.  The  same  observation  has  been  made  on 
the  Pacific  coast,  where  the  striped  bass  was  arti- 
ficially introduced  more  than  twenty  years  ago. 
The  spread  of  the  fish  along  the  coast  north  and 
south  is  very  limited,  and  the  Fish  Commissioners 
of  California  have  undertaken  to  make  up  for  this 
peculiarity  by  transplanting  in  many  waters,  to 
form  new  centres  of  distribution. 

It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  although  striped 
bass  live  chiefly  in  salt  or  brackish  water,  they  may 
be  suddenly  placed  in  fresh  water  without  incon- 
venience or  loss.     They  have  been  reared  success- 

172 


THE     STRIPED    BASS 


fully  in  fresh-water  ponds,  where  their  increase  of 
weight  has  been  rapid,  but  no  one  has  yet  discovered 
their  spawning  in  such  waters. 

Artificial,  —  The  natural  distribution  of  the 
striped  bass  has  been  supplemented  in  the  United 
States  by  the  transplanting  of  the  fish  to  California 
waters,  and  this  experiment  has  constituted  one  of 
the  great  triumphs  of  modern  fish-culture,  as  the 
yearly  catch  of  striped  bass  in  California,  both  com- 
mercially and  for  sport,  is  nearly  equal  to  the  yield 
in  Atlantic  waters.  There  is,  however,  a  marked 
difference  in  the  marketing  of  the  fish,  because  when 
New  York  is  paying  twenty  to  thirty  cents  a  pound 
San  Francisco  can  have  the  same  fish  for  a  few 
cents,  the  wholesale  price  at  certain  seasons  ranging 
from  three  quarters  of  a  cent  to  a  cent  and  a  half 
a  pound. 

In  the  Potomac  River  the  fish  ascends  to  the 
Great  Falls.  It  has  been  one  of  the  commonest  and 
most  highly  esteemed  fish  of  the  Delaware  and 
Susquehanna  rivers,  though  unfortunately  it  has 
not  been  so  abundant  there  in  recent  years.  It  has 
been  regarded  as  a  permanent  resident  of  Graves- 
end  Bay,  N.  Y.,  with  the  fishery  at  its  height  from 
the  10th  of  October  to  the  10th  of  November.  Bass 
up  to  forty-five  pounds  in  weight  were  formerly 
caught  in  May,  but  in  the  fall  the  fish  range  from 
nine  to  twenty-four  inches  in  length.  In  Great 
South  Bay  specimens  have  been  obtained  by  the 

173 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

writer  at  Blue  Point  Cove,  Great  River,  Nichols's 
Point,  and  off  Widow's  Creek.  A  great  haul  was 
made  about  the  middle  of  October,  1901,  on  the 
Lone  Hill  middle-ground.  In  some  tributaries  of 
Great  South  Bay  the  fish  remains  throughout  the 
year. 

Dr.  Mearns  reported  the  capture  of  great  num- 
bers of  bass  in  nets  set  through  the  ice  of  the 
Hudson  in  winter,  and  in  the  drift  nets  of  the 
shad-fishermen  in  spring.  Large  individuals  weigh- 
ing sixty  pounds  or  more  are  sometimes  taken  in 
winter  and  early  spring.  Dr.  Mearns  took  a  speci- 
men in  fresh  water  a  httle  above  the  estuary  of 
Poplopen's  Creek. 

At  Wood's  Hole,  Mass.,  the  fish  arrives  about 
May  1  and  leaves  about  November  1.  It  is  not  a 
common  specimen  and  apparently  does  not  spawn 
there;  it  ranges  in  weight  from  half  a  pound  to 
sixty-five  pounds. 

The  striped  bass  ascends  the  St.  Lawrence  at 
least  as  far  as  Quebec,  and  may  possibly  reach  the 
Niagara,  where  a  specimen  has  been  reported  at 
Lewiston.  It  is  not  certain,  however,  that  this  in- 
dividual was  a  striped  bass;  it  may  have  been  the 
white  bass,  which  resembles  its  marine  relative, 
although  much  smaller  and  confined  strictly  to 
fresh  water. 

The  striped  bass  was  introduced  into  California 
through  the  joint  efforts  of  the  United  States  Fish 

174 


THE     STRIPED     BASS 


Commissioners  and  the  California  State  Fish  Com- 
missioners in  1879  and  1882.  It  has  become  so 
abundant  that  the  annual  catch  by  fishermen  is 
nearly  as  large  as  the  yearly  supply  on  the  Atlantic 
coasti  The  range  of  the  fish  is  still  Hmited  to  the 
interior  bays  and  rivers.  In  1882,  400  fingerlings 
were  planted  at  Army  Point,  in  Solano  County. 
The  extent  of  the  increase  may  be  appreciated  from 
the  market  sales  in  1903,  which  amounted  to  nearly 
2,000,000  pounds.  The  bass  have  not  gone  far 
north  or  south  of  the  Golden  Gate.  Russian  River, 
in  Sonoma  County,  seems  to  be  almost  the  northern 
limit,  while  Monterey  Bay  is  the  southern  boundary. 
The  Commissioners  are  of  opinion  that  the  bass 
dislike  to  migrate  far  through  the  salt  water  in 
order  to  reach  other  fresh-water  streams.  To  ob- 
viate this  supposed  difficulty  a  plant  was  made  in 
Orange  County,  in  December,  1903,  in  a  series  of 
brackish  lagoons  fed  by  fresh  water.  Seventy-five 
bass  ranging  from  six  ounces  to  three  and  a  half 
pounds  in  weight,  and  assorted  according  to  size, 
were  kept  in  live-cars  for  thirty-six  hours  and 
were  then  shipped  700  miles  in  twenty-gallon  cans, 
reaching  their  destination  without  loss.  The  object 
of  this  southern  plant  is  to  establish  the  bass  in  the 
Santa  Ana  River  and  San  Diego  Bay.  Arrange- 
ments were  also  made  to  send  bass  to  Del  Norte 
County,  where  the  waters  are  considered  suitable 
for  the  experiment. 

175 


THE   basses:     fres  h-~w  ater   and   marine 


Abundance 

Notwithstanding  the  numerous  agencies  which 
have  combined  to  deplete  the  waters  of  game  and 
food  fish,  the  striped  bass  is  still  a  very  important 
source  of  profit  to  the  fisherman  and  of  sport  for  . 
the  angler.  A  fish  which  furnishes  a  quota  of  about 
1,500,000  pounds  to  the  Eastern  markets  annually, 
besides  the  large  numbers  caught  by  anglers,  and  in 
addition  to  a  commercial  and  angling  yield  of 
nearly  equal  volume  on  the  Pacific  coast,  cannot  be 
considered  a  declining  object  of  fishery.  It  seems 
to  be  established  that  there  are  not  so  many  bass  in 
ISTorthern  waters  as  were  reported  by  the  early 
writers,  —  Captain  John  Smith,  the  Virginia  his- 
torians, Mitchill,  Mease,  De  Kay,  and  others.  The 
fish  have  either  migrated  beyond  the  limits  of  pol- 
lutions, obstructions,  and  disturbance  of  their  feed- 
ing and  spawning  grounds,  or  they  have  ceased  to 
visit  our  shores  with  the  other  migratory  shoals  that 
still  make  their  appearance  annually. 

The  sale  in  Northern  markets  of  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  young  bass,  many  of  them  scarcely  more 
than  six  inches  long,  must  have  been  followed  by 
local  depletion  at  least.  The  same  unwise  demand 
for  immature  fish  developed  in  California  as  soon 
as  the  bass  began  to  attract  attention  in  its  bays  and 
estuaries,  but  legal  measures  were  promptly  taken 

176 


THE     STRIPED     BASS 

to  protect  the  young,  and  their  good  effects  were 
soon  apparent. 

Fish-culture  has  come  to  the  rescue  of  the  people 
also,  and  the  artificial  hatching  of  the  eggs  has  sup- 
plemented the  transplanting  of  bass  with  gratify- 
ing results.  Transplanting  alone  by  means  of  very 
small  numbers  has  already  placed  California  on  a 
par  with  the  Atlantic  coast  in  the  extent  of  its  bass- 
fishing.  Artificial  hatching  has  proceeded  in  a 
small  and  desultory  fashion  for  more  than  thirty 
years ;  but  no  extensive  work  in  this  line  was  accom- 
plished until  1904,  when  Mr.  S.  G.  Worth,  of 
the  United  States  Fisheries  Bureau,  collected 
13,683,000  eggs  at  Weldon,  N.  C,  from  May  2  to 
May  24,  the  great  bulk  of  them  coming  in  one  day. 
May  6.  Sixty-nine  per  cent  of  the  eggs  were 
hatched. 

Mr.  Worth  believes  that  partial  rearing  in  ponds 
would  be  successful.  Of  this  there  seems  to  be  no 
doubt,  as  such  experiments  have  been  made  at 
several  places  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  notably  in 
South  Carolina  and  Rhode  Island.  Striped  bass 
have  been  captive  in  the  New  York  Aquarium  since 
1894,  and  some  individuals  have  increased  from 
about  eight  ounces  to  twenty  pounds  in  weight  in 
a  pool  only  twenty-eight  feet  long  and  about  three 
feet  deep. 

The  rearing  of  choice  game-fish  in  public  as  well 
as  private  waters  is  worthy  of  encouragement,  as 

12  177 


THE   basses:     fres  h-w  ater   and   marine 

the  project  is  entirely  feasible  and  the  object  to  be 
accomplished  is  in  every  way  desirable. 


Favorite  Haunts 

The  striped  bass  prefers  cold  waters.  It  is  fre- 
quently found  at  the  mouths  of  small  creeks  and  in 
tid,e-ways,  where  it  lies  in  wait  for  the  great  schools 
of  little  fishes  upon  which  it  feeds.  The  rock-bound 
shores  of  our  Northern  bays  furnish  hiding-places 
for  fish  of  the  largest  size.  Sometimes  a  school  of 
big  ones  will  be  seen  in  the  surf  along  sandy  shores, 
feeding  upon  such  small  fish  as  may  be  present. 

The  great  bays  and  sounds  of  the  coasts  of 
North  Carolina  and  Virginia  are  centres  of  abun- 
dance, and  provide  suitable  spawning-grounds  for 
enormous  numbers  of  the  fish.  Edenton  and  Wel- 
don,  N.  C,  and  Norfolk,  Va.,  are  noted  fishing- 
places.  The  Roanoke  River,  in  the  vicinity  of 
Hamilton,  yields  a  great  many  bass. 

The  Little  Falls  of  the  Potomac  is  a  favorite 
ground  for  fly-fishing  in  good  seasons.  The  Pas- 
saic and  the  Raritan  have  also  furnished  good  sport 
for  this  style  of  capture.  The  Susquehanna  River, 
near  Havre  de  Grace  and  in  the  vicinity  of  Port 
Deposit,  is  noted  for  its  bass.  Pushing  farther 
north  we  find  favorite  grounds  near  New  York 
and  in  Great  South  Bay,  also  near  Newport,  R.  I., 
Block  Island,  West  Island,  No  Man's  Land,  and 

178 


THE     STRIPED     BASS 

at  the  fishing-stands  of  Martha's  Vineyard  and  its 
neighboring  islands. 

In  November  the  bass  congregate  in  shoals  in 
ponds  of  brackish  water,  the  back  waters  of  tidal 
rivers,  or  in  the  bays  and  bayous  of  rivers  flowing 
into  the  sea. 

On  the  Pacific  coast  the  most  famous  haunts  of 
the  fish  are  Lake  Merritt,  in  Oakland,  Cal.,  San 
Francisco  Bay,  San  Leandro  Bay,  and  San  An- 
tonio Slough.  The  last  is  celebrated  for  its  great 
numbers  of  big  fish. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  bass  hibernates  in  winter, 
but  this  remains  to  be  established.  Genio  C.  Scott 
records  the  freezing  of  a  great  shoal  of  the  fish  in 
ponds  formed  by  the  backwater  of  the  Seconnet 
River,  where  they  were  discovered  by  their  dorsal 
fins  closely  packed  together  in  the  ice.  Many  years 
ago  the  great  winter  resorts  of  the  fish  were  Mote- 
tecunk,  thirty  miles  from  Long  Branch,  and  the 
rivers  of  Elk  and  Egg  Harbor. 

Habits 

Migrations.  —  The  striped  bass  lives  in  the  seas 
or  the  fresh  waters  indifferently,  and  has  been  kept 
successfully  in  artificial  and  natural  ponds.  It  is 
a  lover  of  cold  water,  and  will  ascend  streams  for 
long  distances  unless  stopped  by  obstructions.  It 
is  especially  fond  of  rivers  frequented  by  the  shad, 

179 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater   and    marine 

because  the  eggs  of  that  fish  furnish  one  of  its 
favorite  foods ;  and  the  river  herring,  which  accom- 
panies the  shad,  also  contributes  greatly  to  the 
diet  of  the  bass.  Perhaps  the  habit  of  ascending 
streams  was  acquired  through  this  marked  love  for 
shad  eggs  and  the  tender  flesh  of  the  alewife. 

Feeding.  —  The  bass  is  carnivorous  and  preda- 
ceous  and  consumes  vast  numbers  of  little  fishes  in 
the  streams,  particularly  herring  and  shad.  The 
shallow  bays  along  the  coast  furnish  it  with  killi- 
fish,  anchovies,  silversides,  lant,  and  many  other 
small  fishes,  as  well  as  worms,  shrimp,  crabs,  squid, 
clams,  scallops,  mussels,  and  other  marine  inverte- 
brates. Its  movements  while  feeding  are  greatly 
influenced  by  the  tides. 

Spawning.  —  The  greatest  runs  of  the  fish  take 
place  in  the  spring,  when  pressing  toward  the 
spawning-grounds,  or  very  late  in  the  fall,  at 
which  time  great  numbers  are  often  obtained,.  The 
largest  fish  frequent  the  vicinity  of  rocks  and  "  nig- 
ger-heads "  along  the  shores  of  our  bays  and  the 
coast  indentations  between  the  shores  and  the  out- 
lying reefs.  The  estuaries  and  tideways  harbor 
smaller  bass,  while  in  the  shallowest  waters  are 
found  the  smallest  of  the  race. 

The  uncertainty  of  the  movements  of  this  fish 
is  proverbial.  It  is  hard  to  find  at  certain  times, 
and  still  more  difficult  to  bring  to  the  hook.  It  is 
shy  and  extremely  wise  on  occasion,  so  that  no 

180 


THE     STRIPED     BASS 

angler  can  lay  claim  to  continual  success  in  that 
branch  of  fishing.  When  the  bass  does  strike  the 
hook,  however,  there  is  no  possibility  of  mistake 
about  its  intention,  and.  it  almost  invariably  hooks 
itself  without  assistance. 

The  bass  spawns  either  in  the  rivers  or  in  the 
brackish  waters  of  bays  and  sounds,  but  little  has 
been  discovered  about  its  breeding-places  except  in 
North  Carolina.  At  Havre  de  Grace  it  was  almost 
invariably  difficult  to  get  ripe  eggs  and  milt  at  the 
same  time,  and  still  farther  north  the  practical  diffi- 
culties increased;  in  fact,  almost  nothing  has  been 
accomplished  in  the  Northern  States  because  of  the 
slight  knowledge  heretofore  possessed  concerning 
the  breeding-places  and  breeding-habits. 

Qualities 

As  a  Food-Fish.  —  As  a  food-fish  this  bass  has 
been  noted  since  the  very  early  history  of  our 
country,  and  the  Indians  were  acquainted  vdth  its 
excellence  before  white  men  came  to  these  shores. 
The  flesh  is  most  palatable  and  nutritious,  so  that 
the  bass  ranks  in  the  markets  among  the  choicest 
of  the  fishes.  In  California  it  is  considered  as  sec- 
ond in  value  and  importance  to  the  salmon  only. 
In  the  Eastern  cities  it  commands  a  higher  price 
than  almost  any  other  of  the  species. 

Many  persons,   unfortunately   for  the  perma- 

181 


THE   basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

nency  of  the  supply,  consider  the  very  small  fish  a 
great  delicacy  and  continually  tempt  the  market- 
men  and  fishermen  to  obtain  what  they  desire,  not- 
withstanding the  most  stringent  protective  laws. 

The  flesh  of  the  striped  bass  is  firm,  white,  and 
flaky,  and  has  a  delightful  flavor  produced  by  the 
generous  and  nourishing  diet  upon  which  it  subsists. 

This  is  one  of  the  largest  of  the  food  and  game 
fishes  which  ascend  into  fresh  waters,  frequently 
reaching  a  greater  size  than  the  largest  of  the 
salmon  family.  Individuals  weighing  more  than 
100  pounds  are  by  no  means  uncommon. 

As  a  Game-Fish,  —  A  shapely  fish,  moreover; 
active  and  graceful  in  its  movements;  beautiful 
far  above  the  average  of  the  game-fishes  in  its  sil- 
very mail  and  brilliant  iridescence;  quick  to  seize 
a  suitable  lure  and  to  hold  it  firmly;  full  of  re- 
sources in  its  struggle  against  capture;  full  of 
expedients  for  escaping  the  hook  or  parting  the 
most  approved  line;  endowed  with  wonderful 
strength  and  endurance;  quick  to  take  advantage 
of  all  the  natural  obstructions  to  the  angler's  skill 
which  exist  in  its  favored  haunts,  —  the  striped  bass 
is  a  king  among  the  game-fishes.  It  is  certainly 
in  the  same  class  with  the  salmon  for  its  intelligence 
and  fighting  qualities.  Its  first  plunge  when  hooked 
is  more  powerful  than  that  of  the  salmon,  and  its 
endurance  is  greater.  It  depends  upon  its  great 
strength  for  its  escape  from  capture,  and  resorts 

182 


THE     STRIPED     BASS 

to  no  tricks  such  as  every  salmon-fisherman  must 
overcome  in  the  pursuit  of  his  favorite  quarry.  The 
bass  fights  in  the  water,  at  the  bottom  or  mid- 
depth,  utiHzing  every  accessory  which  nature  has 
furnished  for  its  protection.  Sharp  rocks,  stems  of 
kelp,  sunken  timbers,  or  whatever  may  offer  a 
chance  to  chafe  or  cut  the  line  or  break  the  hook 
are  employed  to  the  best  advantage.  A  quick 
change  of  direction,  involving  sudden  slacking  of 
the  line,  is  one  of  the  wiles  which  often  lead  to 
failure  with  the  most  expert  anglers. 

Casting  through  the  surf  is  one  of  the  most  exhil- 
arating, though  precarious,  methods  of  bass-fishing. 
When  a  great  fish  is  hooked,  everything  combines 
to  circumvent  the  fisherman:  the  bass  itself,  the 
weight  of  the  surf,  the  action  of  the  undertow, 
the  friction  of  rocks,  the  uncertain  footing  of  the 
fisherman,  and,  frequently,  the  force  of  the  winds, 
—  sorely  try  his  patience  and  test  his  skill  to  the 
utmost.  The  muscles  of  the  bass  are  formed  with 
regard  to  strength  as  well  as  to  symmetry,  and 
when  supplemented  by  unflinching  courage  they 
involve  a  contest  which  soon  develops  into  a  furious 
battle.  No  angler,  however  skilful,  can  be  sure  of 
his  prize  until  it  is  fairly  landed  beyond  the  power 
of  escape. 

The  great  vitality  of  the  bass  will  be  more  fully 
appreciated  when  we  remember  its  power  of  endur- 
ing long  journeys  and  close  captivity.    The  splen- 

183 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

did  results  obtained  on  the  California  coast  could 
scarcely  have  been  secured  but  for  these  quahties. 
Sudden  transplanting  from  salt  water  to  fresh,  and 
long  railway  journeys  in  a  limited  quantity  of 
water,  cause  very  slight  mortality  to  this  splendid 
species,  therefore  it  is  practicable  to  stock  new  and 
distant  waters  and  thus  multiply  the  pleasures  of 
the  angling  fraternity,  while  supplying  the  markets 
with  a  delightful  food-fish. 

The  value  of  a  game-fish  is  dependent  to  a  great 
extent  upon  its  versatihty,  if  we  may  attribute  this 
characteristic  to  a  fish.  It  can  be  taken  by  many 
reputable  methods,  including  the  use  of  artificial 
flies,  and  thus  gains  a  wide  circle  of  admirers  and 
gratifies  a  great  diversity  of  tastes. 

Voracity.  —  The  voracity  of  the  striped  bass  con- 
tributes to  its  merits  as  a  game-fish.  The  necessity 
of  upbuilding  such  superb  muscles  makes  it  keen 
and  vigorous  in  the  pursuit  of  its  prey,  and  there- 
fore always  on  the  lookout  for  any  object  in  the 
water  which  promises  to  satisfy  its  prodigious  ap- 
petite. Notwithstanding  its  inherent  qualities, 
there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  bass  makes  war 
upon  its  own  kind,  as  does  the  fresh-water  black 
bass,  which  is  notorious  for  its  cannibalism. 


184 


THE     STRIPED     BASS 

Bate  of  Grrowth  and  Size  Reached 

This  giant  among  the  game-fishes  starts  from  a 
very  small  egg.  Last  year  Mr.  S.  G.  Worth, 
of  the  United  States  Fisheries  Bureau,  recorded 
35,000  eggs  as  the  number  in  a  United  States 
standard  liquid  quart.  The  egg  is  therefore  smalle 
than  that  of  the  shad,  which  is  about  an  eighth  o: 
an  inch  in  diameter  before  fertilization.  The  devel- 
opment of  the  egg  in  water  at  a  suitable  tempera- 
ture is  very  rapid.  Mr.  Worth  states  that  the 
embryo  four  hours  old  is  about  three  sixteenths  of 
an  inch  in  length.  When  four  days  old  the  young 
are  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  length,  and  at 
four  weeks  measure  about  half  an  inch.  Dr.  C.  C. 
Abbott  found  young  bass  about  one  inch  long  in 
the  Delaware  during  the  second  week  in  June,  and 
by  the  middle  of  October  some  of  them  had  reached 
a  length  of  four  and  a  half  inches.  In  a  small  pool 
of  fresh  water  in  South  Carolina  some  bass  fed 
upon  crabs  and  oysters  increased  in  about  eleven 
months  from  six  inches  to  twenty  inches  in  length. 
In  Rhode  Island,  bass  confined  in  a  pond  grew 
from  half  a  pound  to  a  pound  in  June,  and  to  six 
pounds  by  the  following  October. 

The  rate  of  growth  naturally  depends  chiefly 
upon  the  amount  of  food  obtainable,  suitable  tem- 
perature, and  quality  of  the  water.    In  California, 

185 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

according  to  the  anglers,  the  bass  is  not  so  dainty 
a  feeder  as  in  the  East;  his  appetite  (voracity)  ap- 
pears to  be  more  exacting,  and  he  pays  far  less 
attention  to  the  details  of  placing  bait  upon  the 
hook.  To  use  the  expressive  language  of  a  recent 
writer,  "  he  can  be  caught  with  a  big  '  gob  '  of  clam 
stuck  on  a  hook  so  obviously  that  it  would  not  fool 
a  cross-eyed  crab." 

The  limit  of  growth  varies  with  the  locality.  Big 
fish  are  plentiful  in  various  waters,  but  more  espe- 
cially on  our  Southern  coasts.  The  very  largest 
on  record  was  caught  many  years  ago  in  the  town 
cove  at  Orleans,  Mass.  This  was  said  to  scale  112 
pounds.  At  Cuttyhunk,  in  1860,  an  individual 
weighing  104  pounds  was  claimed.  In  a  fish- 
market  at  Baltimore,  Md.,  Dr.  J.  A.  Henshall,  in 
his  boyhood  days,  saw  a  bass  weighed  which  ex- 
ceeded 100  pounds.  Near  Norfolk,  Va.,  about  600 
of  the  fish  landed  in  one  haul  averaged  sixty  pounds 
each,  and  several  of  them  attained  105  pounds. 
On  the  Pacific  coast  the  fish  have  not  been  so 
long  established,  and  do  not  run  so  large  as  in 
Atlantic  waters,  seldom  reaching  forty  pounds  in 
weight. 

Artificial  Culture 

The  striped  bass  is  said  to  spa^^ii  naturally  in 
both  fresh  and  brackish  waters,  but  the  work  of  the 

186 


THE     STRIPED     BASS 

fish-culturist  with  this  species  has  thus  far  been 
limited  to  fresh-water  localities. 

Seth  Green  and  Marcellus  Holton  were  among 
the  early  experimenters  with  the  bass,  their  work 
having  been  carried  on  more  than  thirty  years  ago 
and  just  about  the  time  of  the  beginning  of  artifi- 
cial hatching  by  the  United  States  Fish  Commis- 
sion. For  a  long  period  of  years,  for  some  reason  or 
reasons  not  well  known,  next  to  nothing  was  done 
to  increase  the  numbers  of  this  valuable  fish,  al- 
though desultory  investigations  were  continued.  In 
the  meantime  new  colonies  of  striped  bass  were  es- 
tablished in  California,  from  which  State  we  may 
soon  be  compelled  to  obtain  market  supplies  of  the 
fish  for  the  East.  As  has  been  already  stated,  the 
California  Fish  Commissioners,  having  observed 
that  the  fish  are  not  inclined  to  spread  far  from 
their  original  centres,  are  introducing  them  at 
points  widely  separated,  hoping  to  create  new  and 
successful  fishing-grounds  wherever  the  water  con- 
ditions permit. 

Legal  restrictions  of  one  kind  or  another  are 
necessary  for  the  permanence  of  bass-fishing.  In 
the  East  there  is  a  close-time  corresponding  by  sup- 
position with  the  breeding  season.  In  California 
there  is  a  continuous  open  season,  but  no  bass  under 
three  pounds  in  weight  can  be  lawfully  sold  or  had 
in  possession.  The  sale  of  very  small  bass  in  East- 
ern markets  has  certainly  been  one  of  the  causes 

187 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

of  the  dearth  of  spawning-fish  in  our  Northern 
waters. 

Seth  Green  handled  the  eggs  just  as  he  had  suc- 
cessfully managed  the  shad  eggs,  and  in  floating 
boxes  with  a  wire  screen  bottom  tilted  at  a  slight 
angle  to  the  surface  of  the  stream  by  means  of 
lateral  cleats  fastened  on  the  ends  of  the  boxes. 
Holton  carried  on  some  preliminary  work  at  Wel- 
don,  N.  C,  in  1873.  The  United  States  Fish  Com- 
mission found  the  ripe  fish  in  North  Carolina  in 
May,  1879;  but  not  until  last  year  were  operations 
successfully  carried  out  upon  a  large  scale,  and  then 
Weldon  was  again  the  scene  of  the  work.  There 
Mr.  Worth  was  surprised  by  the  suddenness  of  the 
natural  spawning.  Out  of  the  whole  number  of 
eggs  collected,  aggregating  more  than  13,000,000, 
about  five  sixths  were  taken  in  a  single  night  (May 
6),  and  upward  of  3,000,000  were  furnished  by  a 
single  female. 

The  spawning  females  secured  by  Mr.  Worth 
ranged  from  three  to  fifty  pounds  in  weight  and 
yielded  from  14,000  eggs  to  the  maximum  of 
3,220,000.  The  season  continued  from  May  2  to 
May  24,  and  the  water  temperature  varied  from 
60°  to  70°  F.  The  average  period  of  hatching  was 
forty- four  hours,  while  Seth  Green  recorded  eight 
days  for  the  same  operation  in  the  North,  which 
shows  how  important  a  part  the  water  temperature 
plays  in  the  development  of  eggs. 

188 


THE     STRIPED     BASS 

Before  fertilization,  according  to  Mr.  Worth, 
the  egg  has  a  beautiful  green  color  which  disap- 
pears in  the  course  of  hatching.  After  absorbing 
all  the  water  it  will  hold  in  the  hardening  or  plump- 
ing process,  it  is  nearly  as  large  as  the  shad  egg 
and  has  about  the  same  qualities  for  hatching  pur- 
poses. The  oil  in  the  embryo  sacs  is  amber,  and  this 
oil  globule  causes  the  young  fish  to  assume  an 
oblique  swimming-position  with  the  head  somewhat 
raised. 

Fishing  Localities 

Within  easy  reach  from  New  York  are  many 
good  bass  grounds.  At  Liberty  Island,  during  the 
ebb  tide  the  fishing  is  from  the  landing,  while  on 
the  west  side  the  beach  offers  the  best  available 
spots.  About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  Liberty 
Island  a  depression  known  as  The  Pot  has  been 
noted  for  its  good  fishing.  Robbins  Reef;  Sunken 
Island;  Staten  Island  shores  from  Dumb  Beacon 
to  The  Willows,  and  thence  down  to  Sailors'  Snug 
Harbor;  The  Crib;  The  Nigger-Heads  along  the 
Jersey  shore ;  The  Sods,  off  Fitzgeralds ;  Giff ords, 
Staten  Island ;  and  the  shore  at  Eltingville,  —  have 
been  mentioned  as  favorable  localities  frequently 
yielding  good  catches  of  bass.  Along  the  Hudson 
River  front  of  the  city  between  125th  and  155th 
streets  some  fish  have  been  taken. 

Sandy  Hook  offers  some  good  fishing  by  casting 

189 


THE    basses:    fresh-water   and    marine 

outside  the  breakers.  There  are  also  good  points 
for  surf  fishing  on  the  New  Jersey  coast  from 
Sandy  Hook  to  Barnegat,  especially  Ocean  Beach 
and  South  Elberon.  Boat  fishing  and  trolling 
around  Staten  Island  have  been  successful  at  vari- 
ous places,  among  them  GiiFords,  New  Dorp,  South 
Beach,  Eltingville,  Huguenot,  Annadale,  Princess 
Bar,  and  Tottenville.  The  Sods,  on  the  outer  beach 
at  GifFords,  have  yielded  the  best  scores,  the  fishing 
always  taking  place  on  flood  tide,  as  it  is  done  in 
shallow  water. 

Excellent  fishing  has  been  enjoyed  in  Staten 
Island  Sound,  near  Buckwheat  Island,  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  a  little  creek  running  in  there  from  the  shore. 
In  the  Raritan  River,  at  The  Hedges,  above  the 
bridge  at  Perth  Amboy,  some  bass  have  been 
secured,  also  a  few  in  the  Rahway  River  at  Trem- 
ley.  Allenhurst,  N.  J.,  provides  excellent  bass- 
fishing  at  the  flume  at  the  foot  of  Deal  Lake.  The 
presence  of  the  fish  is  due  to  beds  of  sea-clams,  or 
skimmers,  which  provide  choice  food  for  the  fish, 
which  run  large,  some  of  them  being  nearly  fifty 
pounds  in  weight.  The  Hackensack  River  was 
once  famous  for  its  bass,  but  the  fishing  has  been 
destroyed  by  the  injurious  use  of  illegal  nets. 

At  Hell  Gate,  notwithstanding  the  deterioration 
of  the  waters  by  oil,  trolling  sometimes  furnishes 
good  sport.  Striped  bass  are  also  caught  in  Bowery 
Bay,  Jamaica  Bay,  from  the  piers  of  Coney  Island, 

190 


THE     STRIPED     BASS 

in  Gravesend  Bay,  and  along  the  Diker.  A  few 
small  fish  are  occasionally  caught  at  the  piers  on  the 
Brooklyn  side  of  the  Bridge. 

In  addition  to  the  city  fishing-localities  named 
above,  the  Hudson  River  furnishes  bass-fishing  at 
Fort  Washington,  Yonkers,  Tarrytown,  and  Os- 
sining.  On  Long  Island  Sound  the  fishing  is  some- 
times good  at  New  Rochelle,  N.  Y.,  and  Stamford, 
Conn. 

Famous  fishing-grounds  exist  off  the  coast  of 
Rhode  Island,  especially  in  the  vicinity  of  Newport, 
around  Cuttyhunk  and  other  islands  between  the 
Vineyard  and  Buzzards  Bay,  as  well  as  in  the 
channel  between  Naushon  and  Cape  Cod. 

In  addition  to  the  California  fishing-places  men- 
tioned under  the  heading  "  Distribution,"  the  latest 
report  of  the  Commissioners  states  that  striped  bass 
weighing  twelve  pounds  have  been  taken  in  the 
clear  waters  of  Feather  River  above  Oroville. 
They  are  found  in  large  numbers  in  the  Tuolumne 
River  above  Modesto  and  in  the  Merced  River,  and 
in  the  San  Joaquin  River  they  have  been  found  as 
far  up  stream  as  PoUasky. 

Striped-Bass  Clubs 

The  anglers  of  the  California  coast,  rejoicing  in 
the  abundance  of  bass,  have  formed  numerous 
striped-bass  clubs  since  1900.    Thousands  of  people 

191 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

enjoy  the  sport  and  have  added  to  their  table  fare 
a  most  excellent  food-fish  since  the  successful 
transfer  of  the  fish.  On  Sundays  and  holidays  the 
shores  of  San  Francisco  Bay  and  the  banks  of  the 
San  Joaquin  and  Sacramento  rivers,  as  well  as  of 
their  tributaries,  are  lined  with  anglers  equipped 
for  the  new  fishing. 

The  records  of  the  striped-bass  clubs  and  private 
fishing-stands  along  the  Atlantic  coast  unfortu- 
nately show  little  now  but  vanished  glories.  From 
one  cause  or  another,  and  sometimes  without  appar- 
ent cause,  the  sport  has  dwindled  to  insignificant 
proportions,  and  some  clubs  which  were  once  very 
prosperous  are  at  present  almost  deserted.  Mr. 
Daniel  B.  Fearing,  of  Newport,  R.  I.,  has  kindly 
furnished  some  data  concerning  the  catch  and  notes 
upon  the  supposed  unfavorable  influences  which 
have  destroyed  the  bass  angling. 

The  West  Island  Club,  West  Island,  R.  I.,  occu- 
pied grounds  mad,e  famous  by  the  writings  of 
Genio  C.  Scott.  The  records  cover  a  period  of 
forty  years  and  show  considerable  variation  in  the 
number  of  fish  caught.  The  best  year,  1874, 
yielded  2,406  bass,  and  the  poorest  catch  numbered 
only  eleven  fish,  taken  in  1904. 

The  Cuttyhunk  Club,  Cuttyhunk  Island,  Mass., 
organized  in  1865,  has  never  reached  the  record  of 
its  first  year,  when  1,174  bass  were  captured;  and 
during  the  last  fifteen  years  the  results  of  angling 

192 


THE     STRIPED     BASS 


were  very  discouraging.  In  1902,  for  example, 
only  two  bass  were  recorded.  The  f alling-off  has 
been  attributed  to  extermination  of  the  bass,  and, 
in  part,  to  the  presence  of  innumerable  lobster-pots 
in  the  vicinity. 

The  Pasque  Island  Club,  Pasque  Island,  Mass., 
whose  records  have  been  kept  since  1866,  took  905 
fish  in  1868  and  only  one  in  1889.  In  1902  forty 
were  recorded.  Seining  for  menhaden  in  Buzzards 
Bay,  sale  of  immature  fish  in  the  markets,  and  the 
firing  of  heavy  guns  by  war-ships  and  from  Fort 
Trumbull  are  assigned  as  causes  of  the  scarcity  of 
big  bass. 

The  Monument  Club,  Bourne,  Mass.,  began  its 
record  in  1873  and  attained  a  maximum  of  633 
bass  in  1878.  Very  few  bass  have  been  taken 
during  the  last  decade,  owing  probably  to  the  dimi- 
nution of  menhaden,  shrimp,  and  young  fish  form- 
ing the  food  of  the  bass. 

The  Beaver  Tail  Club,  Conanicut  Island,  R.  I., 
has  no  accurate  accounts  of  the  catch,  but  104  bass 
were  set  down  for  1890,  since  which  date  and  until 
1896  the  number  secured  was  small. 

The  Graves  Point  Club,  Newport,  R.  I.,  has  rec- 
ords from  1881  to  1890,  but  nothing  authentic  since 
1890.  Before  the  club  was  formed  Mr.Wilham  Post, 
while  fishing  at  Graves  Point,  caught  the  largest 
striped  bass  ever  taken  on  rod  and  reel,  a  fish  weigh- 
ing seventy  pounds  several  hours  after  its  capture. 

13  193 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

The  Southside  Sportsmen's  Club,  Oakdale,  Long 
Island,  although  not  a  striped-bass  club,  takes  a 
great  many  bass  in  Great  River,  but  in  1904,  for 
some  unknown  reason,  the  catch  was  very  poor. 
The  fishing  is  done  with  fly-spoons,  bloodworms 
and  sandworms.  Light  tackle  is  used,  as  the  fish 
seldom  reach  ten  pounds  in  weight.  A  few  have 
been  taken  with  artificial  flies. 

No  recent  information  is  at  hand  concerning  the 
Newport  Fishing  Club,  Southwest  Point,  New- 
port, R.  I.,  and  the  Squibnocket  Club,  Martha's 
Vineyard,  Mass.  An  old  friend  writes  that  he  is 
told  that  the  fishing  at  Cuttyhunk  and  Seaconnet 
Point  clubs  has  been  very  poor  for  a  number  of 
years,  and  the  visits  of  members  are  few  and  far 
between.  Truly  the  time  is  ripe  here  for  intelligent 
fish-cultural  enterprise. 

Fishing  Outfit 

Clothing.  —  As  the  season  for  striped-bass  fish- 
ing is  a  long  one  and  continues  far  into  the  cold  and 
inclement  weather,  the  angler  must  be  supplied 
with  plenty  of  warm  clothing,  including  water- 
proof jacket,  mitts,  and  boots.  A  soft  hat  or  cap, 
overalls,  and  thumb-stalls  for  protection  against 
the  friction  of  the  line,  are  necessary  parts  of  the 
equipment. 

Rods.  —  As  the  fish  vary  greatly  in  size,  and  the 

194 


THE     STRIPED     BASS 

styles  of  fishing  differ  widely,  there  must  naturally 
be  a  corresponding  variety  in  the  character  of  the 
rods  used,  depending  upon  the  conditions  to  be  met 
by  the  angler.  The  materials  generally  used  for 
the  rod  are  ash,  lancewood,  and  Calcutta  or  Japa- 
nese bamboo,  either  natural  or  split.  Whatever  the 
materials,  a  jointed  rod  is  preferable  to  any  other. 
The  length  and  weight  of  the  rod  differ  with  cir- 
cumstances. A  casting-rod  should  be  eight  or  eight 
and  a  half  feet  long,  and  weigh  from  twelve  to 
sixteen  or  eighteen  ounces. 

The  best  rod,  of  course,  in  the  opinion  of  most 
anglers,  is  of  split  bamboo  of  superior  quality  and 
workmanship,  although  one  that  will  best  stand 
hard  usage  may  be  made  of  lancewood,  greenheart, 
or  bethabara,  which,  however,  would  be  somewhat 
heavier  than  one  of  split  bamboo.  A  very  satis- 
factory rod  and  much  less  expensive,  besides  pos- 
sessing the  advantage  of  lesser  weight,  is  made  of 
the  natural  male  Calcutta  bamboo,  known  to  anglers 
as  a  "  chum  "  rod. 

The  rod  should  be  in  not  less  than  two  pieces,  and 
some  prefer  to  have  it  in  three,  when  the  length 
reaches  eight  and  a  half  feet.  In  some  cases  the 
rod  may  be  nine  feet  long,  but  it  must  have  plenty 
of  spring  and  be  much  stiff  er  than  trout  and  salmon 
rods  of  the  same  dimensions.  Two  joints  of  bam- 
boo with  a  butt  of  lancewood  or  some  other  heavy 
wood,  form  a  rod  which  meets  with  great  favor. 

195 


THE  basses:   fres  h-w  ater  and  marine 

The  chief  qualities  required  in  a  rod  for  sea 
fishing  are  toughness,  spring,  and  elasticity.  It 
should  be  silk-wound  and  have  guides  and  tips  of 
agate  or  carnelian.  The  double  bell-mouth  guides 
and  a  funnel  top  lined  with  agate  are  used  on  the 
most  expensive  rod^s. 

For  bait-casting  in  fresh  water  a  lighter  rod  will 
answer,  its  length  and  weight  depending  on  the 
work  to  be  accomplished.  A  light  pliable  rod  not 
exceeding  nine  feet  in  length  will  be  suitable  for 
fishing  in  shallow  bays  and.  lagoons,  near  river- 
mouths,  or  in  streams  within  tide  limits.  A  two- 
piece  rod  in  ash  and  lancewood,  with  a  length  of 
seven  and  a  half  feet  and  a  weight  of  eight  ounces, 
or  of  split  bamboo  of  lighter  weight,  can  be  used 
with  success. 

For  fly-fishing  a  different  style  of  rod  is  needed. 
Any  good  black-bass  rod  will  prove  effective  in 
striped-bass  fishing.  For  still-fishing,  where  the 
fish  are  small,  one  may  have  fine  sport  with  a  plain 
rod  combined  with  a  float  and  sinker  and  with  two 
hooks  on  gut  leaders.  For  trolling,  when  the  bass 
are  not  too  large,  expert  anglers  often  use  a  trout- 
rod  eight  or  eight  and  a  half  feet  long  and  weigh- 
ing from  four  to  six  ounces. 

Reels,  —  There  is  just  as  much  variation  in  the 
reels  required  for  striped-bass  fishing  as  there  is  in 
the  rods ;  everything  depends  on  the  size  of  the  fish 
and  the  conditions  surrounding  it.     Surf  fishing, 

196 


THE     STRIPED     BASS 

for  instance,  demands  a  reel  made  especially  for  that 
method.  The  reel  must  be  a  quadruple  multiplier 
with  bearings  of  jewels  or  steel,  and  having  a  capa- 
city of  holding  from  two  hundred  to  three  hundred, 
yards  of  twelve-  to  eighteen-  thread  Cuttyhunk 
line.  The  most  serviceable  reels  for  this  fishing  are 
made  of  hard  rubber  and  German  silver,  and  cost 
from  ten  to  fourteen  dollars  each. 

In  fly-fishing  the  same  tackle  which  is  used  for 
black  bass  will  serve  quite  as  well  for  striped  bass. 

Lines,  —  The  lines  generally  used  for  surf- 
fishing  are  linen  lines  of  the  style  known  as  Cutty- 
hunk  9-18-thread,  in  lengths  varying  with  the 
character  of  the  fishing.  For  still-fishing  in  sum- 
mer or  bait-fishing  from  the  shore  the  line  is  usually 
of  braided  linen,  smallest  size,  in  lengths  of  fifty 
yards  with  a  three-foot  leader  of  single  gut.  In 
trolling  for  comparatively  small  fish  up  to  ten 
pounds  in  weight,  about  100  feet  of  braided  linen 
line,  size  E  or  F,  or  with  200  feet  of  size  E  for 
larger  bass,  may  be  used.  According  to  experts, 
raw  silk  makes  the  best  line.  The  sizes  generally 
used  are  12-15-thread,  though  some  use  18-thread. 
Grass  lines  have  frequently  been  employed,  but 
they  require  too  much  care,  and  unless  well  kept 
they  soon  become  unserviceable.  Some  of  the  best 
linen  lines,  which  come  in  200-yard  lengths,  cost  as 
much  as  $2.50  each  by  the  hundred. 

For  small  bass  up  to  two  or  three  pounds  in 

197 


THE  basses:    fres  h-w  ater  and  marine 

weight,  Nos.  1  or  2  Sproat  or  O'Shaughnessy  hooks 
on  gut  snells  will  be  found  suitable.  In  trolling, 
Sproat  hooks  Nos.  2-0  to  3-0  on  gut  snells  are 
recommended  for  small  fish,  and  Nos.  5-0  to  6-0 
for  larger  bass.  The  best  hooks  for  surf  fishing  on 
the  coast  are  knobbed  Sproat  or  O'Shaughnessy 
hooks,  Nos.  5-0  to  8-0.  These  are  secured  to  the 
line  by  two  half -hitches,  with  an  additional  half- 
hitch  to  attach  the  loose  end.  In  California  the 
anglers  who  troll  on  Lake  Merritt  use  a  3-0  Wilson 
hook,  but  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  fish  are  not  so 
large  in  those  waters  as  in  the  East. 

A  chaT'acteristic  outfit  for  Eastern  anglers  would 
include  twisted  gut  lead.ers  with  two  three-foot 
leaders  in  service,  one  of  them  attached  to  the  line 
with  a  brass  swivel,  the  second  fastened  in  like  man- 
ner to  the  first,  and  linked  to  the  end  of  this,  also 
by  means  of  a  swivel,  a  small  spinner  of  the  screw- 
propeller  type.  To  the  end  of  this  spinner  a  stand- 
ard hook,  usually  a  4-0  or  5-0,  should  be  attached. 
The  best  nine-foot  leaders,  made  by  looping  three 
leaders  together  and  used  for  heavy  bass,  cost  $7.50 
a  dozen.  Increase  in  the  length  of  a  leader  adds 
greatly  to  its  cost. 

Sinkers  and  Sundries,  —  For  still-fishing,  sinkers 
of  different  weights  according  to  the  strength  of 
the  tide  form  a  valuable  adjunct,  and  over  grassy 
bottom  a  light  float  may  be  added  with  advantage 
when  using  crab  or  shrimp  for  bait.    Sometimes  the 

198 


THE     STRIPED     BASS 

fish  will  refuse  the  bait  when  suspended  in  mid- 
water,  and  it  becomes  necessary  to  substitute  a  run- 
ning sinker  for  the  float  and  swivel  sinker  and  let 
the  bait  lie  on  the  bottom  until  a  bite  is  felt,  when 
the  hook  is  to  be  sent  home  by  a  quick  strike. 

Additional  appliances  of  great  utility  in  surf 
fishing  are  a  long-handled  gaif-hook  m^de  of  the 
finest  steel  and  very  sharp-pointed;  a  knife  for 
cutting  up  (or  "chumming")  the  waste  parts  of 
the  menhaden,  a  spoon  for  throwing  out  the  chum, 
and  thumb-stalls,  or  cots,  made  of  woollen  yarn, 
leather,  rubber,  or  other  suitable  material,  to  pro- 
tect the  thumbs  from  being  chafed  by  the  line.  A 
shoemaker's  knife,  well  sharpened,  makes  an  excel- 
lent bait-knife. 

Bait,  —  The  striped  bass  is  such  an  omnivorous 
feeder,  and  his  taste  changes  so  frequently,  that  the 
angler  will  use  many  different  kinds  of  bait  during 
the  fishing-season.  No  doubt  the  common  shrimp 
is  more  generally  used  than  anything  else,  except 
on  the  California  coast,  where  many  fine  shrimps 
are  found,  but  are  not  necessary  to  tempt  the  appe- 
tite of  the  bass.  Little  fish  called  shiners  and  sar- 
dines, and,  the  clams  of  the  region,  form  the  usual 
bill  of  fare.  For  trolling,  the  Golcher,  Stewart,  or 
Wilson  spoon,  is  used,  with  tackle  which  would  be 
considered  unnecessarily  heavy  in  the  East,  but 
which  may  at  any  time  have  to  stand  the  weight  and 
strain  of  a  great  salmon  instead  of  that  of  a  bass. 

199 


THE  basses:    fres  h-w  ater  and  marine 

For  still-fishing  from  the  shore  or  from  an  an- 
chored boat,  in  addition  to  the  ever-useful  shrimp, 
excellent  service  is  performed  by  crabs  of  several 
kinds,  preferably  in  the  soft  or  shedder  state.  The 
blue  (or  edible)  crab  is  the  one  most  frequently 
employed,  but  the  calico  crab,  or  lady-Crab,  also 
serves  a  useful  purpose  wherever  found.  Shedder- 
lobster  is  another  well-known  and  sometimes  highly 
effective  bait  which  is  no  longer  to  be  obtained  in 
localities  near  New  York.  At  one  time  lobster  tail 
was  a  favorite  casting-bait  at  Gay  Head,  with  the 
remainder  of  the  animal  cut  up  for  chum. 

A  very  tempting  morsel  is  furnished  by  the 
marine  worms  (the  sandworm  and  bloodworm  of 
our  sand  beaches),  used  in  trolling  or  still-fishing. 
The  bloodworm,  sometimes  called  whiteworm,  often 
reaches  a  length  of  twelve  to  fifteen  inches,  and 
two  or  three  worms  are  needed  for  a  single  bait. 
These  are  threaded  through  the  whole  length  of  the 
body  and  must  cover  the  hook  entirely  from  point 
to  snell.  Some  anglers  combine  this  luxury  with 
a  spinner  or  other  artificial  bait,  but  this  is  unneces- 
sary and  wasteful. 

The  mollusks  play  an  important  part  in  bass- 
fishing.  The  hard  clam  or  quahaug,  the  skimmer 
or  hen-clam,  the  soft-shelled  clam,  and  the  scallop, 
all  have  their  distinctive  uses  and  supplement  the 
work  of  the  shrimp  and  crab  tribes  most  hand- 
somely.   Some  of  them  are  difficult  to  apply  to  the 

200 


Fishing  from  a  Stand 


THE     STRIPED     BASS 

hook  securely,  but  the  fish  will  sometimes  prefer 
them  to  all  other  lures.  The  skimmer  is  known  as 
an  excellent  bait  at  Allenhurst,  N.  J.,  where  a  great 
bed  of  these  clams  attracts  bass  of  large  size.  The 
squid,  if  it  were  easier  to  obtain,  would  prove  highly 
effective,  as  it  is  one  of  the  natural  foods  of  striped 
bass  and  other  game-fishes.  Supplies  may  be  had 
around  Martha's  Vineyard,  and  the  islands  between 
Vineyard  Sound  and  Buzzards  Bay,  with  more  or 
less  regularity  in  summer.  Doubtless  the  salted 
squid  would  serve  very  well  when  the  fresh  material 
is  lacking,  just  as  it  does  in  the  commercial  cod- 
fishery. 

Small  fish  of  many  kinds,  either  alive  or  dead, 
will  always  hold,  their  place,  because  they  are  the 
legitimate  prey  of  the  large  game-fishes.  To  a  con- 
siderable extent  the  bass  depends  for  its  rapid 
growth  on  such  resources.  In  California  the  shiner 
and  sardine  are  the  staple  baits  for  trolling  or  still- 
fishing.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  any  of  the  numerous 
silvery  or  translucent  minnows  of  the  coast  waters 
will  attract  the  game.  On  our  Eastern  shores  we 
have  an  abundance  of  little  fish  in  every  way  suit- 
able in  size  and  coloration  for  the  angler's  needs, 
—  silversides,  spearing,  killifish,  lant,  smelt,  salt- 
water mullet,  eel,  alewife,  and  menhaden.  One  of 
the  killies  is  so  well  associated  with  the  bass  in  the 
capacity  of  a  food-supply  that  it  has  received  the 
name  of  bass  killie.    This  is  one  of  the  largest  of 

201 


THE  basses:    fres  h-w  ater  and  marine 

its  kind  and  has  different  markings  for  the  sexes, 
females  having  longitudinal  narrow  dark  streaks 
while  males  have  dark  bars  arranged  vertically. 
The  menhaden  is  the  most  famous  of  all  baits  in 
surf  fishing,  serving  not  only  to  toll  the  fish  by  pro- 
ducing an  oily  floating  scum,  but  also  to  furnish 
a  choice  morsel  which  no  right-minded  bass  can  well 
refuse. 

For  a  trolling-bait  on  certain  rivers,  especially 
the  Susquehanna,  an  eel-tail  is  sometimes  used  suc- 
cessfully. When  the  skin  of  the  eel  only  is  taken, 
it  is  better  to  cast  by  hand,  attaching  a  small  sinker 
to  the  front  of  the  bait.  The  skin  is  stripped  from 
the  vent  backward,  turned  inside  out,  and  drawn 
over  two  hooks,  one  at  the  front  and  another  at  the 
rear.  The  lure  must  be  pulled  rapidly  through  the 
water,  to  give  it  a  lifelike  appearance. 

Another  bait,  seldom  heard  of  at  present,  but 
formerly  much  esteemed,  is  the  roe  of  the  shad. 
There  is  no  question  that  bass  are  fond  of  this  deli- 
cacy, because  they  follow  the  shad  up  their  spawn- 
ing rivers  for  the  express  purpose  of  enjoying  such 
food.  The  principal  objection  to  the  roe  is  that  it 
is  not  nice  to  handle,  and  its  preparation  is  some- 
what difficult.  At  the  same  time  some  anglers  con- 
tinue to  fish  with  it  and  keep  it  in  jars  through  the 
summer  by  covering  the  whole  roe  with  hot  tallow, 
sealing  it  tightly,  and  placing  it  in  a  cold  spot.  In 
order  to  prevent  the  rapid  destruction  of  the  roe  it 

202 


THE    STRIPED     BASS 

is  sometimes  enclosed  in  mosquito-netting  and  fast- 
ened securely  to  the  hook. 

Artificial  lures  for  trolling  include  the  bone  or 
block-tin  squid,  spoons,  spinners,  and  their  allies, 
preferably  attached  to  a  single  hook.  A  silver  spin- 
ner is  frequently  used  in  the  East  combined  with 
whiteworms  completely  concealing  the  hook.  Some 
authorities  discourage  the  addition  of  natural  bait 
to  the  artificial.  On  San  Francisco  Bay,  in  the  fall, 
many  anglers  troll  in  Raccoon  Straits,  usually  with 
one  of  three  standard  spoons  No.  6  or  No.  7. 
Heavy  tackle  is  required  to  take  care  of  any  stray 
quinnat  salmon  which  may  take  a  fancy  to  the  lure, 
and.  it  is  nothing  unusual  to  hook  bass  weighing 
from  twenty  to  thirty  pounds.  Anglers  on  Lake 
Merritt,  Cal.,  in  trolling  with  shiner  or  sardine,  use 
two  swivels  on  the  leader,  —  one  at  the  top  and  one 
at  the  bottom.  Where  the  leader  is  attached  to  the 
line  there  is  placed  a  sphere  of  lead  about  three 
eighths  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  pierced  with  a  hole 
large  enough  to  allow  the  line  to  run  through  it 
easily.    This  is  to  prevent  ravelling  of  the  line. 

Artificial  flies  are  available  for  striped-bass  fish- 
ing in  fresh  or  brackish  water  only,  and  they  can 
be  used  to  the  best  advantage  in  the  spring  when 
bass  are  ascending  fresh  waters.  Fishing  is  most 
productive  of  results  about  sundown.  Showy  flies 
are  the  favorites,  —  red  ibis,  blue  jay,  oriole,  royal 
coachman,  polka,  silver  doctor,  Parmachenee  Belle, 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

and  similar  gaudy  creations.  Trolling  the  fly  is 
sometimes  the  only  effectual  method,  giving  ample 
length  of  line  and  working  the  lure  at  the  surface 
of  the  water. 


Methods  of  Capture 

Still-Fishing  with  Bait,  —  Still-fishing  with  bait 
from  an  anchored  boat  or  from  the  bank  is  very 
general  on  both  coasts.  This  yields  the  best  results 
in  rather  shallow  water  of  the  estuaries,  in  the  tide- 
ways, or  "  thoroughfares,"  at  proper  stages  of  the 
tide,  near  river  mouths,  or  in  the  tidal  waters  of 
rivers.  Expert  anglers  even  beyond  tide-water 
often  make  good  catches  at  the  edges  of  rapids  in 
deep  eddies  near  big  rocks.  In  the  estuaries  and 
river  mouths  the  best  fishing  stages  of  tide  are  the 
last  of  the  ebb  and  the  first  of  the  flood,  while  the 
full  tide  is  best  in  shallow  bays  and  lagoons. 

The  rod  should  be  comparatively  short,  eight  to 
nine  feet,  rather  stifl*,  but  elastic,  and  not  much 
over  eight  ounces  in  weight.  Wooden  rods  will 
weigh  more  than  split  bamboo,  but  a  combination 
of  wood  and  bamboo  off'ers  the  most  satisfactory 
result.  The  stiff*ness  of  the  rod  facilitates  the  use 
of  heavy  sinkers,  which  are  often  necessary  in  tide- 
ways. 

The  reel  adapted  to  this  fishing  is  a  good  multi- 
plier, and  if  intended  for  use  around  salt  water  it 

204 


THE     STRIPED     BASS 

should  be  nickel-plated  or  composed  of  German 
silver  and  hard  rubber.  Fifty  yards  of  the  smallest 
size  braided  linen  line,  with  a  three- foot  single-gut 
leader,  or  with  two  leaders  (one  of  three  feet  and 
the  other  two  feet),  and  with  Sproat  or  O'Shaugh- 
nessy  hooks  ranging  in  size  from  No.  1  to  No.  3,  or 
even  larger  for  the  big  fish,  will  be  needed.  A 
swivel  sinker  for  the  attachment  of  the  line  and 
leaders  is  part  of  the  outfit.  A  landing-net  will 
be  a  very  useful  adjunct. 

When  fishing  over  grassy  bottom  a  float  attached 
about  three  feet  above  the  sinker  will  be  found  very 
useful.  The  sinker  is  to  have  two  swivels,  one 
above  for  the  line  and  one  below  for  the  leaders. 
The  weight  of  the  sinker  must  vary  with  the 
strength  of  the  tide. 

Shrimp  bait  is  fastened  by  passing  the  point  of 
the  hook  under  the  back  plates.  Shrimp  and  crab 
are  two  of  the  most  eff*ective  baits  known  to  the 
angler.  Throughout  the  summer  the  crab  Avill 
usually  prove  the  more  useful  of  the  two.  The  bait 
must  sometimes  lie  quietly  on  the  bottom,  but  is 
usually  suspended  in  mid-water  and  kept  in  con- 
stant motion  by  jerking  the  rod.  Only  a  single 
hook  is  used  by  some  expert  anglers. 

Trolling,  —  Trolling  with  marine  worms,  min- 
nows, natural  squid,  eel-tail,  or  artificial  lures  of 
any  kind,  requires  a  fairly  stiff  but  pliable  rod 
eight  or  nine  feet  long,  braided  linen  line  from  100 

205 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

to  200  feet  in  length,  from  size  F  to  size  E,  depend- 
ing upon  the  weight  of  the  bass,  and  with  Sproat 
hooks  No.  2-0  to  6-0.  The  baits  generally  used  in 
the  East  are  bloodworms,  live  minnows,  or  other 
small  fish,  part  of  an  eel's  tail,  or  some  artificial 
creation  such  as  a  squid,  spoon,  or  spinner  with  or 
without  the  addition  of  natural  bait.  In  California  it 
is  customary  to  pay  out  seventy-five  feet  of  line  on 
the  flats,  and  about  forty  feet  in  deeper  water.  Here 
also  a  favorite  line  is  the  15-  to  18-strand  Cuttyhunk. 

The  boat  is  rowed  alongshore,  especially  close  to 
the  margin  of  water  plants,  which  furnish  shelter 
for  minnows,  or  over  sunken  reefs  or  ledges  of 
rock,  and  near  the  border  between  rapids  and  the 
deep  eddies  caused  by  intercepting  rocks.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  strike  the  fish  when  a  bite  is  felt, 
but  allow  it  to  hook  itself  and  then  play  it  carefully 
and  bring  it  to  the  gaff  or  landing-net. 

Heaving  and  Hauling  in  the  Surf,  —  Heaving 
and  hauling  in  the  surf  with  hand,  lines  is  a  method 
employed  to  some  extent  for  striped  bass  as  well 
as  for  bluefish.  Not  much  skill  is  required  for  such 
fishing  except  in  securing  the  bait  to  the  hook  and 
in  making  the  cast  smoothly.  The  heaviest  Cutty- 
hunk  line  is  required,  and  finger-mitts  to  protect 
the  hands.  The  bait  may  be  spearing,  killie,  lobs- 
ter, alewife,  menhaden,  eelskin,  or  any  of  the 
known  foods  of  the  bass.  The  bait  is  usually 
drawn  rapidly  through  the  water. 

206 


THE     STRIPED     BASS 

Casting  with  Menhaden  Bait.  —  Casting  in  the 
surf  with  menhaden  bait  is  regarded  as  the  highest 
type  of  expert  anghng  for  striped  bass  on  the 
Atlantic  coast.  The  most  elaborate  outfits  and 
most  expensive  estabhshments  go  with  this  style 
of  fishing. 

The  character  of  the  rod  will  differ  according  to 
the  tastes  and  means  of  the  angler,  but  it  must  be 
decidedly  stiff er  than  one  used  for  trout  or  salmon. 
The  approved  length  is  from  eight  to  nine  feet,  and 
the  most  expensive  kinds  are  made  from  split  bam- 
boo, preferably  with  a  butt  piece  of  some  hard 
wood.  Guides  of  the  double  bell-mouthed  pattern 
and  tips  of  the  funnel  style,  both  tips  and  guides 
lined  with  agate  or  adamant,  are  associated  with 
this  form  of  rod.  Some  anglers  use  a  rod  made  of 
greenheart,  bethabara,  or  lancewood  about  eight 
and  a  half  feet  long.  This  will  stand  rough  usage 
better  than  the  split-bamboo  rod.  Another  style, 
known  as  the  "  chum "  rod,  is  made  of  natural 
male  Calcutta  bamboo  in  two  or  three  pieces. 

The  reel  is  another  important  part  in  casting 
with  menhaden.  Reels  are  made  expressly  for  surf 
fishing  and  must  have  bearings  of  agate  or  steel, 
so  that  they  may  run  noiselessly  and  with  perfect 
freedom.  They  should  hold  at  least  three  hundred 
yards  of  12-18-thread  Cuttyhunk  line. 

Hooks  intended  for  this  mode  of  fishing  have 
already  been   described,   also   such   accessories   as 

207 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

thumb-stalls,  "  chum  "  knife  and  spoon,  and  a  gaff- 
hook  of  the  best  quality  and  workmanship. 

Menhaden  is  the  bait  almost  universally  used,  but 
the  tail  of  a  lobster  without  any  remnants  of  shell 
is  sometimes  substituted  for  menhaden.  In  South- 
ern waters  a  silver  mullet  five  or  six  inches  long, 
hooked  through  the  lips,  or  some  other  fish  of 
silvery  color,  has  been  successfully  employed  in 
casting.  The  supposed  advantage  of  the  men- 
haden is  that  its  oil,  which  floats  off  upon  the 
water,  attracts  the  bass  to  the  anglers'  stand,  but 
the  attraction  may  really  be  due  to  the  fragments 
of  fish  which  are  thrown  out  in  chunmiing. 

Some  anglers  attain  great  skill  in  casting  men- 
haden bait  and  claim  to  reach  a  distance  of  120 
yards,  which  is  far  greater  than  the  average  dis- 
tance of  the  cast.  In  making  the  cast  the  line  is 
reeled  up  to  about  two  feet  from  the  tip,  and  one 
hand  grasps  the  rod  above  the  reel  and  the  other 
below  it,  the  thumb  of  the  lower  hand,  with  its 
protecting  thumb-stall,  controlling  the  line  so  that 
it  travels  at  exactly  the  same  rate  as  the  bait,  which 
must  be  delivered  with  great  accuracy  at  the  end 
of  the  cast.  The  motion  of  casting  is  a  peculiar 
one  and  is  acquired  only  after  long  practice.  It 
is  really  more  like  throwing  than  the  overhand  cast- 
ing. The  cast  may  be  made  with  either  hand,  the 
body  being  turned  to  one  side  or  the  other  as  occa- 
sion requires.    The  one  great  essential  is  to  deliver 

208 


THE     STRIPED     BASS 

the  bait  at  the  surface  of  the  water  without  a  jerk, 
and  the  motion  of  the  reel  must  be  stopped  as  soon 
as  the  bait  touches  the  water. 

As  soon  as  the  bait  sinks  to  the  bottom  the  hne 
is  reeled  in  slowly,  and  the  casting  is  continued  until 
a  fish  is  hooked.  The  first  dash  of  the  fish  after 
hooking  is  the  most  critical  stage  of  the  fishing, 
and  the  bass  may  sometimes  rush  toward  the  angler 
faster  than  the  slack  can  be  taken  up,  or  he  may 
chafe  the  line  against  sharp  rocks  or  entangle  it  in 
weeds.  All  of  these  tricks  must  be  skilfully  met 
and  overcome.  The  natural  difiiculties  associated 
with  this  fishing,  in  addition  to  the  strength  and 
endurance  of  the  bass,  call  for  good  judgment  and 
superb  skill  on  the  part  of  the  angler.  In  landing 
big  fish  through  the  surf  the  utmost  care  is  required. 

The  preparation  and  application  of  the  men- 
haden bait  are  very  simple.  The  fish  is  first  scaled, 
then  a  slice  is  cut  from  each  side  from  head  to  tail, 
leaving  little  except  the  backbone,  the  head,  and 
the  fins,  which  are  utilized  later  for  "  chum."  The 
hook  is  inserted  in  the  fleshy  side  of  the  strip,  and 
then  returned  through  the  edges  of  the  scaly  side 
in  such  manner  as  entirely  to  conceal  the  shank. 
The  bait  must  be  tied  on  the  hook,  or  it  will  soon  be 
washed  off  by  the  action  of  the  water.  After  two 
baits  are  cut  from  the  sides,  the  remainder  of  the 
fish  is  chopped  up  and  thrown  into  the  water;  the 
solid  portions  sinking  at  greater  or  less  distance 

14  209 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

from  the  shore,  while  the  oil  covers  the  surface  for 
a  considerable  space. 

The  greatest  difficulty  in  this  method  of  fishing 
results  from  the  over-running  of  the  line,  and  to 
prevent  this  taxes  the  ingenuity  of  the  fisherman 
to  its  limit. 

Fishing  with  Artificial  Flies,  —  In  fly-fishing 
for  striped  bass  it  is  often  advisable  to  troll  the  fly, 
or  it  may  be  cast  in  a  strong  current  with  consider- 
able length  of  line  and  manipulated  at  the  surface 
of  the  water.  This  method  of  fishing  succeeds  best 
late  in  the  evening.  The  styles  of  flies  which  have 
been  most  successfully  used  are  the  bright-colored 
ones,  and,  in  general  terms,  such  as  would  attract 
the  black  bass  in  fresh  waters. 

The  fishing  is  most  productive  on  cloudy  days 
and  dark  nights  and  when  the  water  is  rough  and 
roily.  Dark,  stormy  nights  are  most  suitable  for 
taking  the  big  bass.  In  sea  fishing  the  rocky  ledges 
attract  the  biggest  fish  when  the  surf  is  running 
high. 

Cluh-Houses  and  Fishing- Stands,  —  The  sub- 
stantially built  fishing-stands,  resembling  the  "  pul- 
pits "  of  swordfishing  vessels,  are  a  characteristic 
feature  of  the  club  properties  on  our  New  England 
coasts  and  islands.  Stout  planks  and  iron  railings 
firmly  bolted  to  the  solid  rock  enable  the  angler 
to  maintain  his  station  near  his  favorite  feeding- 
grounds,  no  matter  how  fiercely  winds  blow  or  surf 

210 


Striped  Bass  Fishing  on  the  New  England  Coast 


THE     STRIPED     BASS 

beats  against  the  shore.  Clad  in  warm  and  water- 
proof clothing,  and  provided  with  all  the  needful 
appliances  for  the  capture  of  his  mighty  prey,  he 
braves  the  elements  and  patiently  endures  the  long 
struggle  for  the  sake  of  the  highest  trophy  possible 
outside  of  the  salmon  regions.  Blow,  ye  winds! 
Roar,  ye  surges!  The  stout  heart  of  the  angler 
courts  and  defies  your  threatenings,  for  here  revels 
wild  life  and  matches  its  cunning  against  man's 
strength  and  skill! 


211 


THE  WHITE  BASS 

THIS  is  the  nearest  relative  of  the  striped 
bass,  and  the  only  other  fish  belonging  to 
the  same  genus  which  includes  that  fa- 
mous species.  It  is  very  much  smaller 
than  the  striped  bass  and  is  found  only  in  fresh 
water. 

Description 

The  white  bass  may  be  readily  known  by  its  eight 
or  more  longitudinal  blackish  streaks  on  the  sides, 
the  lower  ones  being  more  or  less  interrupted.  The 
body  is  oblong,  deep  and  thin,  making  quite  a  con- 
trast in  these  respects  with  the  striped  bass.  The 
general  color  is  silvery,  tinged  with  gold  on  the 
sides. 

The  head  forms  one  fourth  of  the  total  length  in- 
cluding the  tail-fin.  The  depth  of  the  body  is  one 
third  of  the  same  length.  The  upper  jaw  reaches 
to  below  the  middle  of  the  eye.  The  snout  and  the 
diameter  of  the  eye  are  about  equal.  The  teeth  are 
in  brush-like  bands  on  the  jaws,  the  tongue,  and 

212 


THE     WHITE     BASS 

the  middle  and  sides  of  the  roof  of  the  mouth.  The 
outline  of  the  back  is  much  curved,  and  the  two 
back-fins  are  well  separated.  The  first  back-fin 
has  nine  spines ;  the  second  has  one  spine  and  four- 
teen soft  rays.  The  fin  behind  the  vent  has  three 
spines  and  eleven  or  twelve  rays.  There  are  eight 
rows  of  scales  between  the  lateral  line  and  the  base 
of  the  second  back-fin;  thirteen  rows  between  the 
lateral  line  and  the  beginning  of  the  fin  behind 
the  vent;    sixty  rows  in  the  lateral  line. 

A  specimen  obtained  by  Mr.  James  Annin  in 
Oneida  Lake  was  twelve  and  a  quarter  inches  long; 
its  head  three  inches;  its  depth  four  inches;  its 
eye  nine  sixteenths  of  an  inch;  weight,  sixteen  and 
a  half  ounces. 

Common  Names 

The  fish  is  usually  called  white  bass,  but  is  some- 
times styled  the  fresh-water  striped  bass.  The 
Canadian  name  silver  bass  probably  belongs  to  this 
fish.  Rafinesque  described  it  under  the  name  Perca 
chrysops,  meaning  "  gold-eye,"  in  1820. 

Distribution 

This  fish  abounds  in  the  region  of  the  Great 
Lakes  and  is  widely  distributed  also  in  the  valleys 
of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers.  It  is  found  in 
Oneida  Lake  and  has  been  freely  introduced  into 

913 


THE   basses:     fres  h-w  ater   and    marine 

many  lakes  in  which  it  is  not  native.  Greenwood 
Lake,  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  has  been 
stocked  with  it  by  the  New  Jersey  Fish  and  Game 
Commission. 


Favorite  Haunts 

The  white  bass  prefers  the  deeper  parts  of  rivers 
and  is  best  adapted  for  life  in  lakes  and  ponds.  It 
is  said  to  be  a  good  fish  for  rearing  in  artificial 
ponds.  In  April  and  May  it  is  found  near  the 
shore  or  in  river  mouths,  where  it  spawns.  In 
summer  and  fall  it  resorts  to  deeper  waters  and  to 
the  lakes.  The  rocky  coves  around  the  Bass  Islands 
of  Put-in-Bay,  Lake  Erie,  and  the  upper  waters 
of  the  Mississippi,  especially  Lake  Pepin,  are  not- 
able for  the  number  and  size  of  their  white  bass. 
The  Detroit  River  furnishes  famous  fishing  for 
this  species.  "  At  the  mouth  of  the  Fox  River,  in 
Wisconsin,  these  fish  are  doubtless  more  numerous 
than  in  any  other  single  locality,  or  were  so  a  few 
years  ago.  The  favorite  bait  there  is  a  minnow, 
at  which  they  will  bite  all  night,  and  a  score  of  a 
hundred  white  bass  in  a  few  hours  is  not  unusual. 
When  the  anchor  is  hauled  up  they  seem  to  be  as 
ravenous  as  when  the  first  bait  was  thrown  out."  — 
Harris, 


2U 


THE    WHITE     BASS 


Habits 


This  bass  swims  in  schools  while  feeding  or  mi- 
grating, and  thus  contributes  to  the  score  of  the 
angler.  All  that  is  necessary  is  to  provide  suitable 
bait  or  lure  and  tackle,  and  watch  the  direction  in 
which  the  schools  are  headed,  and  the  fish  will  do 
their  part  handsomely.  They  are  often  in  shallow 
water,  or  near  the  surface,  so  the  artificial  fly  has 
an  opportunity  to  play  its  part.  In  the  spring  they 
enter  streams  tributary  to  lakes,  and  are  usually 
most  abundant  off  the  points  washed  by  channels 
or  where  the  streams  are  narrowest.  The  fish  are 
pretty  generally  distributed  and  may  be  taken 
almost  anywhere  and  at  any  time.  In  summer  and 
fall  they  will  be  most  readily  caught  late  in  the 
afternoon  until  sundown. 

The  white  bass  feeds  upon  minnows,  crayfish, 
and  other  fresh-water  crustaceans,  small  mollusks, 
and  the  young  of  fishes.  It  is  said  to  devour  many 
young  whitefish  on  the  spawning-grounds.  The 
spawning-season  is  in  May  and  June,  and  the  eggs 
are  deposited  near  shore  or  in  the  mouths  of  rivers. 

Qualities 

Voracity  is  one  of  the  characteristics  for  which 
it  is  noted,  and  this  makes  it  a  free  biter,  always 

215 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

ready  to  accept  bait  or  fly  if  it  looks  good  to  eat. 
There  are  few  fresh-water  fishes  that  excel  the 
white  bass  as  a  source  of  sport  with  light  tackle. 
It  can  be  caught  in  large  numbers  with  bait  or 
artificial  fly,  and  gives  excellent  play.  As  a  food- 
fish  it  is  highly  esteemed,  its  flesh  being  considered 
quite  as  good  as  that  of  the  black  basses. 

Size  and  Rate  of  Growth 

The  shape  of  the  body  changes  with  age,  adult 
individuals  showing  much  greater  depth  than  the 
young.  A  fish  in  good  condition  will  weigh  about 
one  pound  when  one  foot  long,  and  its  depth  will 
be  about  one  third  of  its  length.  The  fish  is  said 
to  reach  the  weight  of  five  pounds  in  the  Ouachita 
River,  Arkansas. 

Methods  of  Capture 

The  white  bass  is  taken  with  bait  by  still-fishing, 
or  by  casting  either  from  the  shore  or  from  an 
anchored  boat.  A  small  silvery  minnow  hooked 
through  the  lips  makes  a  very  good  bait.  It  takes 
the  artificial  fly  also  with  great  readiness,  but  only 
in  shallow  water  or  when  the  fish  are  schooling  near 
the  surface.  Fly-fishing  gives  the  best  results  in 
spring,  when  it  may  be  practised  at  any  time  of 
day..    A  trout  fly-rod  of  six  to  seven  and  a  half 

S16 


THE     WHITE     BASS 

ounces,  with  small  click-reel  and  very  fine  enamelled 
silk  line,  will  give  the  best  satisfaction.  Small  flies 
tied  on  hooks  No.  5  to  No.  7,  and  of  almost  any  of 
the  standard  patterns  for  brook-trout,  will  attract 
this  bass.  The  hackles,  the  drakes,  stone-fly,  Mon- 
treal, Henshall,  Seth  Green,  silver  doctor,  and  sev- 
eral others  have  been  used  with  success.  Norris 
and  a  companion  once  caught,  in  a  small  Canadian 
creek  opposite  Detroit,  near  sundown,  twenty-five 
white  bass,  averaging  nearly  one  pound  each,  with 
a  fly  whose  wings  were  made  of  the  end  of  a 
peacock's  tail  feather.  "  In  the  Ouachita  River, 
Arkansas,  a  scarlet  and  white  fly  seems  to  be  the 
favorite  lure." 

For  bait-fishing  use  a  black-bass  or  trout  rod 
weighing  seven  or  eight  ounces  and  about  eight 
feet  long.  The  reel  should  be  a  good  multiplier, 
and  the  line  a  very  small  calibre  of  braided  silk. 
A  fine  gut  leader  three  feet  long,  and  hooks  num- 
bered 3  or  4,  on  fine  gut  snells,  form  part  of  the 
outfit.  The  bait  should  be  a  small  minnow  hooked 
through  both  lips.  The  angler  may  fish  from 
points  at  the  edge  of  currents  or  in  the  deep  pools 
of  streams,  but  an  anchored  boat  off^ers  the  best 
opportunity.  The  bait  may  be  manipulated  either 
by  still-fishing  or  by  casting.  In  good  locali- 
ties, when  the  fish  are  moving  freely,  the  angler 
will  have  little  time  to  attend  to  anything  but  the 
fishing. 

.     217 


THE    WHITE    PERCH 

DURING  the  War  of  the  Revolution, 
Schoepf ,  a  Hessian  surgeon  stationed  on 
Long  Island,  described  a  number  of  our 
common  fishes  without  naming  them 
scientifically.  One  of  these,  the  perch  or  river 
perch,  he  recorded  as  an  inhabitant  of  the  coasts  of 
New  York  and  Long  Island,  in  and  at  the  mouths 
of  fresh-water  streams.  It  was  left  for  Gmelin  to 
give  it  the  name  Perca  americana  in  his  edition  of 
Linnasus's  "  Systema  Naturae,"  in  1788.  In  1814 
Dr.  Mitchill  established  the  genus  Morone  for  the 
same  fish,  and  now  our  white  perch  is  referred  to  in 
the  books  under  the  name  Morone  americana. 

The  genus  Morone  as  now  accepted  includes  the 
white  perch  and  the  yellow  bass  —  another  illus- 
tration of  the  possible  confusion  resulting  from  too 
great  dependence  upon  comimon  names  alone.  Mo- 
rone differs  from  the  striped-bass  genus  in  having 
the  back-fins  joined,  the  spines  strong,  the  anal  fin 
with  ten  soft  rays,  the  anal  spines  not  graduated 
(that  is,  the  second  and  third  are  nearly  equal  and 

318 


THE     WHITE     PERCH 


much  longer  than  the  first) ,  the  jaws  nearly  equal, 
and  no  teeth  on  the  base  of  the  tongue. 

Description 

The  white  perch  has  an  oblong  body,  its  depth 
about  three  eighths  of  the  length  without  the  tail- 
fin.  The  back  is  convex.  The  mouth  is  moderately 
large,  the  upper  jaw  reaching  backward  a  little 
past  the  front  of  the  eye.  The  eye  is  nearly  as 
long  as  the  snout,  and  its  length  is  contained  five 
and  a  half  times  in  the  length  of  the  head.  The 
head  forms  one  third  of  the  length  without  the 
tail-fin.  The  third  and  longest  anal  spine  is  two 
fifths  as  long  as  the  head;  the  second  spine  is 
one  third  as  long  as  the  head;  the  first  spine  is 
less  than  one  half  as  long  as  the  second.  There 
are  nine  spines  in  the  first  back-fin,  one  spine  and 
twelve  soft  rays  in  the  second.  The  anal  fin  has 
three  spines  and  ten  rays. 

There  are  seven  rows  of  scales  between  the  lat- 
eral line  and  the  beginning  of  the  first  back-fin, 
eleven  rows  between  the  lateral  line  and  the  edge  of 
the  belly,  and  the  line  itself  pierces  fifty-one  scales. 
The  back-fins  are  separated  by  a  deep  notch,  but 
connected  by  a  low  membrane.  The  color  of  the 
upper  parts  of  the  body  is  grayish  or  greenish; 
the  sides  are  silvery;  the  young  have  pale  longi- 
tudinal streaks.     The  great  variation  in  colors  is 

S19 


THE  basses:    fres  h-w  ater  and  marine 

responsible   for  such  names  as  red  perch,  black 
perch,  ruddy  bass,  gray  perch,  and  yellow  perch. 


Common  Names 

Schoepf  called  this  the  perch  or  river  perch,  no 
doubt  adopting  a  term  in  use  among  the  fishermen. 
Mitchill  used  the  name  of  red  perch  and  stated  that 
when  not  in  the  breeding-season  it  is  known  as 
black  perch  because  its  colors  are  browner  and 
darker.  In  his  "  Fishes  of  New  York,"  De  Kay 
described  it  as  the  ruddy  bass.  In  Great  Egg 
Harbor  Bay,  N.  J.,  individuals  taken  in  salt  water 
are  sometimes  called  yellow  perch  or  peerch.  Norris 
employs  for  it  the  names  white  perch  and  gray 
perch.    The  name  most  widely  used  is  white  perch. 

Distribution 

The  species  ranges  from  Nova  Scotia  to  South 
Carolina  and  is  found  in  both  salt  and  fresh  water. 
Mitchill  saw  specimens  fourteen  inches  long  and 
nearly  five  inches  deep  from  Quogue,  L.  I.  Bell- 
port,  L.  I.,  has  been  noted  for  its  winter  fishery  for 
white  perch.  The  author  has  occasionally  found 
it  in  various  parts  of  Great  South  Bay,  as  at 
Smith's  Point,  Whale  House  Hole,  and  Swan 
River;   also  in  the  east  end  of  Shinnecock  Bay  in 

220 


THE     WHITE     PERCH 

the  fresh  water  of  Head  of  Creek,  near  South- 
ampton. The  white  perch  is  never  plentiful  in 
Gravesend  Bay;  it  abounds  in  lakes  of  Central 
Park,  New  York,  and  Prospect  Park,  Brooklyn. 
Near  Montauk,  L.  I.,  the  fish  is  plentiful  and 
grows  very  large.  Eugene  Smith  found  it  com- 
mon in  brackish  waters  near  New  York  all  the 
year;  he  also  had  it  from  fresh  water.  Dr.  Mearns 
states  that  it  remains  in  the  Hudson  throughout  the 
year  and  is  caught  abundantly  in  winter  in  nets 
set  through  the  ice.  It  was  reported  to  him  that 
individuals  weighing  two  or  three  pounds  were 
caught  in  Oscawana  Lake,  Putnam  County,  N.  Y. 
In  the  vicinity  of  Wood's  Hole,  Mass.,  the  white 
perch  is  abundant  in  fresh-water  ponds  connected 
with  salt  water.  Fresh-water  ponds  and  lakes  in 
many  portions  of  the  New  England  States  are  well 
stocked  with  this  fish,  and  in  some  of  them  it 
reaches  a  large  size.  In  the  tidal  creeks  all  along 
the  east  coast  from  New  York  to  South  Carolina 
white  perch  furnish  excellent  fishing,  and  the  fish 
ascend  many  large  rivers  far  above  the  limits  of 
tide.  It  is  doubtful  if  the  species  extends  its  range 
as  far  south  as  Florida  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

Abundance 

The  white  perch  congregates  in  large  schools  and 
is  one  of  the  commonest  of  our  pan-fishes.     Dr. 

221 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

Abbott  has  recorded  that  as  many  as  240  have  been 
taken  with  a  line  in  a  few  hours,  and  the  late  A.  M. 
Spangler  reported  catches  of  600  or  700  in  a  day 
by  two  rods,  the  fish  weighing  from  three  quarters 
to  one  and  a  quarter  pounds.  It  is  a  lover  of  brack- 
ish water  and  may  be  found  in  tidal  creeks  in  vast 
numbers  in  the  company  of  mummichogs,  silver- 
sides,  and  eels. 

Habits 

Small  indi\dduals  ascend  streams  into  fresh 
water,  associating  with  small  striped  bass  and  feed- 
ing upon  young  eels  and  small  minnows.  It  re- 
sembles the  striped  bass  in  its  feeding-habits,  but 
differs  from  this  in  its  tendency  to  seek  warm 
waters.  It  has  a  varied  diet,  including  the  spawn 
of  other  fish,  especially  of  the  shad,  insects  and  their 
larvae,  worms,  shrimp,  minnows,  and  small  eels, 
which  they  pursue  in  the  rivers  with  much  eagerness. 

Some  of  the  fish  are  said  to  hibernate  in  the  deep 
salt  water  of  the  bays,  but  others  are  found  under 
the  ice  of  rivers  in  the  winter.  The  migratory 
schools  which  go  into  fresh- water  streams  enter  them 
in  spring  soon  after  the  ice  and  snow-water  have 
run  off.  During  the  summer  the  perch  are  found 
swimming  around  the  piers  or  the  timbers  sup- 
porting bridges,  or  chasing  minnows  on  the  flood- 
tide  high  up  the  stream  among  the  water-lilies. 


Striped  Bass 

Sea   Bass 

Small-mouthed  Black  Bass 


THE     WHITE     PERCH 

sometimes  ready  to  take  a  small  shrimp  or  other 
suitable  bait  without  much  ceremony,  but  occa- 
sionally leaving  a  locality  suddenly  when  the  feed- 
ing-grounds are  disturbed  by  seines. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  fishing-season  the  perch 
follows  its  food,  to  the  limits  of  the  tide-ways. 
During  summer,  on  the  ebb  tide,  it  is  in  deep  water, 
on  sandy  or  rocky  bottoms  or  mussel-beds,  or 
around  submerged  wrecks  and  stone  piles.  On  the 
flood  it  moves  along  the  margins  of  creeks  and 
rivers,  following  the  minnows  into  the  water-plants 
wherein  they  find  a  home  and  partial  shelter.  Al- 
though usually  living  upon  animal  food  the  perch 
sometimes  appears  to  take  brackish-water  seaweeds 
into  its  stomach,  perhaps  for  the  sake  of  the  small 
shells  and  crustaceans  found  upon  them. 

The  spawning-season  is  in  May  and  June.  The 
eggs  are  small  and  very  adhesive;  they  number 
about  40,000  to  the  fish  of  average  size  and  are 
hatched  in  three  or  four  days.  The  first  experi- 
ments with  artificial  hatching  were  made  before  the 
improved  methods  of  separating  the  eggs  were 
understood,  and.  the  results  were  far  from  satis- 
factory ;  yet  some  were  hatched  in  six  days  in  water 
varying  in  temperature  from  58°  to  60°  F.  After 
the  spawning-season  is  ended  the  fish  seek  deeper 
waters  in  which  to  recuperate. 


SS8 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

Qualities 

As  a  pan-fish  this  species  is  a  great  favorite. 
The  flesh  is  white,  firm,  flaky,  and  of  excellent  fla- 
vor. Few  fishes  on  the  east  coast  are  more  highly- 
esteemed.  Norris  was  the  great  apostle  of  the  white 
perch.  He  described  in  detail  the  modes  of  fishing 
and  also  the  best  methods  of  cooking.  For  fry- 
ing he  recommended  that  the  fish  be  rolled  in 
grated  cracker  or  coarse  corn  meal  and  moderately 
browned.  For  a  piquant  dish  he  gives  the  follow- 
ing suggestions: 

"  Cut  off  the  heads  and  tails  and  fry  enough  to  lay  them 
open ;  take  out  the  backbone  and  ribs,  dividing  each  into 
two  slices;  then  put  them  in  the  pan  again  and  brown 
them  in  coarse  com  meal,  pouring  over  them,  when  nearly 
done,  a  little  Worcestershire  sauce  or  walnut  catsup,  and 
serve  them  up  with  drawn  butter  and  an  additional  quan- 
tity of  sauce  or  catsup." 

As  a  game-fish  the  white  perch  ranks  very  high. 
Its  known  voracity  makes  it  a  free  biter  on  many 
kinds  of  bait,  and  with  light  tackle  the  angler  may 
be  certain  of  good  sport  provided  he  can  locate  the 
schools.  The  fish  rises  fairly  well  to  the  artificial 
fly  in  fresh-water  streams  and  ponds.  Henshall 
relates  an  experience  which  illustrates  the  persist- 
ency of  the  fish:   a  white  perch  was  caught  four 

224 


THE     WHITE     PERCH 

times  in  succession  in  the  Gunpowder  River  before 
it  was  finally  killed. 

Size 

The  average  length  is  about  nine  inches,  and  the 
weight  half  a  pound  or  less;  but  many  individ- 
uals measuring  fourteen  inches  and  weighing  two 
pounds  or  more  have  been  taken  in  New  England 
waters.  In  Oscawana  Lake,  Putnam  County, 
N.  Y.,  it  is  said,  some  of  the  perch  weigh  two  or 
three  pounds. 

Methods  of  Capture 

The  requisites  for  white-perch  fishing  are:  a 
light  rod,  a  very  fine  braided  linen  line,  a  leader  of 
single  gut  about  three  feet  long,  and  hooks  Nos.  6 
to  8  on  gut  snells.  A  small  multiplying  reel  may 
be  used  if  desired.  A  sinker  is  needed  in  tide-ways, 
to  keep  the  bait  off  the  bottom,  as  the  fish  will 
not  take  bait  on  the  bottom  unless  it  is  moving. 
Shrimp,  crabs,  and  worms  are  most  frequently  em- 
ployed, and  to  these  a  life-like  action  must  be 
given.  A  float  is  required  in  slack-water  fishing 
in  the  vicinity  of  water-plants.  The  float  is  to  be 
so  placed  as  to  hold  the  hooks  well  off^  the  bottom. 

The  best  baits  are :  shrimp,  shedder-crab,  worms, 
young  eels,  and  small  minnows.    The  pearl  minnow 

15  925 


THE   basses:     fres  h-w  ater   and   marine 

is  sometimes  effective  in  eddies  where  tides  sweep 
the  end  of  a  pier.  Shrimp  and  shedder-crab  are 
choice  baits  for  brackish  waters;  worms  are  killing 
in  the  deep  pools  of  fresh  tidal  rivers ;  small  pieces 
of  fish,  little  minnows,  or  quite  young  eels  are  good 
on  the  flood  tide  along  the  margin  of  water-plants. 

In  brackish  water  the  best  fishing  is  to  be  had 
from  an  anchored  boat  at  half  tides;  full  tide  is 
best  in  tidal  rivers;  low  water  finds  the  perch  in 
deep  holes  among  rocks  or  sunken  timbers.  A  com- 
mon practice  is  to  row  up  a  tidal  creek  on  the  ebb 
as  far  as  possible,  collect  shrimp,  and  fish  on  the 
young  flood,  using  a  small  shrimp  on  a  fine  hook 
and  sometimes  adding  an  artificial  fly  or  two,  cast- 
ing moderately  close  to  the  banks.  Some  anglers 
have  been  successful  on  warm  May  days  in  casting 
with  a  single  small  eel,  moved  like  a  heavy  fly. 

"  Large  white  perch  are  frequently  caught  at 
night  along  the  mud  flats  of  our  Eastern  rivers. 
The  angler  runs  the  bow  of  his  boat  into  the  soft 
mud  near  the  shore  on  the  incoming  tide,  and  with 
a  rod  about  four  feet  long  fishes  from  the  stern 
of  his  boat  without  using  a  float.  As  the  tide  rises 
he  shoves  the  boat  farther  up  on  the  flat,  as  the 
large  perch  follow  the  feeding  minnows  as  the  tide 
grows  and  bite  freely  at  the  garden  worms  com- 
monly used  as  bait  when  flshing  by  this  method. 

"  But  it  is  at  Betterton,  Md.,  at  the  head 
of  Chesapeake  Bay,  where  the  white  perch  excel 

226 


THE     WHITE     PERCH 

in  numbers  and  feeding-powers.  A  few  years  ago, 
at  this  place,  two  other  fishermen  and  I  caught 
700  perch,  averaging  over  half  a  pound  each,  in 
about  two  hours.  Two  boatmen  were  kept  busy 
preparing  crab-bait,  baiting  the  hooks,  and  taking 
the  captured  fish  from  them.  Our  tackle  was  a 
species  of  *  paternoster '  (so  called  by  English 
fishermen),  a  hand-line  with  a  heavy  lead  at  the 
bottom  (the  tide  is  very  strong  at  Betterton). 
From  four  to  six  hooks  were  attached  to  each  line, 
about  five  inches  apart,  and  when  the  pluck  of  a 
fish,  always  a  strong  one,  was  felt,  the  barb  of  the 
hook  was  fastened  into  its  jaw  with  a  jerk.  Before 
the  Hne  could  be  hauled  aboard,  another,  a  third, 
fourth,  fifth,  or  sixth  fish  would  take  a  hold.  Perch 
scores  were  then  estimated  by  peach-crates,  as  when 
that  fruit  was  in  high  season  the  perch  was  most 
plentiful  and  they  were  packed  in  the  baskets  used 
in  shipping  peaches  to  market."  —  Harris. 

Fly-fishing  is  most  productive  in  fresh-water 
ponds  not  connected  with  the  sea,  or  well  up  fresh- 
water streams.  A  variety  of  small  flies  has  been 
employed  —  dark  midge,  gray  drake,  red  ibis, 
grizzly  king,  oriole,  coachman  —  tied  on  Nos.  7 
or  8  hooks. 


227 


THE  YELLOW  BASS 

IN  1860  Dr.  Theodore  Gill  described  the  west- 
em  white  perch,  better  known  as  yellow  bass 
or  brassy  bass,  from  type  specimens  collected 
in  the  vicinity  of  St.  Louis  and  at  New 
Orleans.  The  fish  had  long  been  known  to  fisher- 
men, but  had  received  no  scientific  description  up 
to  that  time. 

The  genus  Morone  was  established  by  Mitchill 
in  1814  for  the  white  perch  and  some  other  fish 
which  he  supposed  to  be  nearly  related  to  it.  The 
only  two  American  members  of  this  genus  are 
those  above  mentioned,  one  of  them  living  in  salt 
water,  brackish  water,  or  fresh-water  ponds  in  the 
East,  the  other  inhabiting  the  Mississippi  Valley, 
extending  a  short  distance  up  the  Ohio  and  into 
certain  streams  and  lakes  of  northern  Indiana,  — 
lakes  Tippecanoe,  Eagle,  Pike,  Centre,  and  Chap- 
man, —  also  Eel  River. 

.  Description 

The  yellow  bass  resembles  the  white  perch  in 
shape  and  is  very  diflFerent  from  the  white  bass, 

228 


THE      YELLOW     BASS 


from  which  it  is  easily  distinguished  by  its  much 
larger  eye  and  mouth,  very  much  higher  first  back- 
fin,  and  much  longer  second  spine  of  the  anal  fin. 
It  has  also  larger  and  rougher  scales  than  the 
white  bass,  and  its  color  is  brassy  yellow  instead 
of  silvery.  It  longitudinal  black  stripes  are  more 
pronounced. 

The  body  is  oblong-ovate,  the  outline  of  the 
back  much  arched.  The  head  is  flattened  above  and 
rather  pointed.  The  eye  is  large,  its  diameter  equal 
to  the  length  of  the  snout.  The  mouth  is  oblique, 
and  the  hind  end  of  the  upper  jaw  reaches  to  below 
the  middle  of  the  eye.  The  back-fins  are  slightly 
connected  by  membrane;  the  first  is  high,  its  fourth 
spine  being  much  more  than  half  as  long  as  the 
head.  The  second  anal  spine  is  half  as  long  as 
the  head.  The  head  forms  one  third  of  the  total 
length  without  the  tail-fin.  The  first  back-fin  has 
nine  spines;  the  second,  one  spine  and  twelve  rays. 
The  anal  fin  has  three  spines  and  nine  rays.  The 
lateral  line  pierces  fifty  scales. 

Color  in  life,  brassy  tinged  with  olivaceous 
above;  seven  very  marked  black  stripes  on  the 
sides,  those  below  the  lateral  line  interrupted  so 
that  the  posterior  part  alternates  with  the  anterior. 

The  fish  reaches  a  length  of  eighteen  inches,  and 
a  weight  of  five  pounds;  individuals  weighing  three 
pounds  are  not  rare,  but  the  usual  weight  is  from 
one  to  two  pounds. 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater   and    marine 

Common  Names 

Yellow  bass  is  the  name  usually  applied  to  the 
fish;  but  it  is  known  also  as  brassy  bass,  and  in 
Louisiana  it  is  called  the  bar-fish,  on  account  either 
of  its  stripes  or  of  its  habit  of  congregating  in 
great  numbers  upon  the  shoals  of  clear-water 
branches  and  bayous  which  empty  into  the  Missis- 
sippi, to  feed  upon  minnows  and  shiners  as  sug- 
gested by  Hallock. 

Distribution 

The  yellow  bass  is  found  chiefly  in  the  lower 
Mississippi  River  and  tributaries,  reaching  Cincin- 
nati and  appearing  sometimes  in  northern  Indiana. 
About  1872  it  was  very  common  in  the  small  lakes 
of  Kosciusko  County,  and  at  the  present  time  a 
few  are  taken  every  year,  especially  after  a  June 
freshet,  according  to  Jordan  &  Evermann. 

Favorite  Haunts 

The  fish  prefers  the  deep  pools  in  rivers  and 
clear-water  bayous  and  is  to  be  looked  for  at  the 
foot  of  rapids  and  riffles.  The  St.  Francis  River, 
in  Arkansas,  and  the  head  of  the  Yazoo  Pass,  in 
Mississippi,  are  famous  fishing-grounds.  In  the 
early  morning  it  resorts  to  the  bars  on  which  min- 


THE     YELLOW     BASS 

nows  feed,  and  is  there  associated  with  the  large- 
mouthed  hiack  bass,  bent  upon  the  same  errand. 

Hgbits 

It  feeds  principally  upon  small  minnows.  The 
spawning-season  is  in  spring. 

Qualities 

The  yellow  bass  is  a  favorite  food-fish  and  with 
light  tackle  yields  excellent  sport.  The  flesh  is 
fully  equal  to  that  of  the  white  bass,  for  which  it 
provides  an  acceptable  substitute  in  the  lower  Mis- 
sissippi Valley,  and  many  anglers  consider  it  su- 
perior to  the  black  basses. 

Methods  of  Capture 

The  same  tackle  and  modes  of  angling  described 
for  white  bass  will  serve  for  the  yellow  bass.  West- 
ern anglers  use  practically  the  same  appliances  as 
for  the  black  basses,  the  crappies,  and  the  white 
bass. 


231 


THE  SEA-BASS 

FISH  families  often  include  members  of 
strikingly  diverse  appearance.  The  sea- 
bass  is  a  near  relative  of  the  striped  bass, 
and  yet  it  resembles  the  groupers  more 
strongly  and  would  not  at  once  be  associated  with 
the  striped  bass,  the  white  bass,  the  yellow  bass, 
and  the  white  perch.  Its  back-fins  are  scarcely 
notched;  the  tail-fin  is  three-lobed  or  double  con- 
cave ;  the  anal  fin  has  few  soft  rays ;  the  belly-fins 
begin  in  advance  of  the  breast-fins ;  and  the  colora- 
tion is  very  different  from  that  of  the  striped-bass 
tribe. 

Description 

The  sea-bass  has  a  stout,  ovate  body  with  the 
back  somewhat  elevated.  The  depth  is  one  third 
of  the  length  without  the  tail-fin  and  nearly  equals 
the  length  of  the  head.  The  mouth  is  rather  large 
and  very  oblique;  the  upper  jaw  extends  beyond 
the  level  of  the  front  of  the  eye;  the  lower  jaw 
projects  forward  beyond  the  upper.     The  eye  is 

232 


THE     S  E  A-B  ASS 

large  and  placed  high,  its  diameter  about  one  fifth 
the  length  of  the  head.  Canine  teeth  are  present, 
but  scarcely  noticeable.  The  teeth  are  all  fixed,  in 
broad  bands.  Spines  of  the  first  back-fin  strong, 
the  middle  ones  longest,  but  less  than  half  as  long 
as  the  head. 

The  spines,  except  the  first,  frequently  with  a 
filament  at  the  tip.  The  breast-fin  is  very  long, 
reaching  to  the  vent.  The  belly-fins  also  reach 
as  far  back  as  the  vent.  The  tail-fin  is  double 
concave,  and  the  upper  lobe  is  sometimes  produced 
into  a  short  filament.  There  are  ten  spines  and 
eleven  rays  in  the  two  back-fins;  three  spines  and 
seven  rays  in  the  fin  behind  the  vent.  The  lateral 
line  pierces  from  fifty  to  fifty-five  scales. 

Color,  dusky  brown  or  black,  adults  often  blu- 
ish, especially  in  the  breeding-season;  sides  more 
or  less  mottled,  with  traces  of  pale  longitudinal 
streaks  along  the  rows  of  scales.  The  back-fins 
have  several  series  of  elongate,  whitish  spots  form- 
ing interrupted  lines ;  the  other  fins  are  dusky,  and 
all  except  the  breast-fins  are  much  mottled  with 
pale  or  bluish  spots.  The  young  are  greenish  or 
brownish,  with  a  dark  lateral  stripe  which  is  some- 
times broken  up,  forming  cross-bars.  The  sea- 
bass  from  deep  water  in  spring  is  a  .brilliantly 
colored  fish  and  cannot  fail  to  excite  admiration. 
The  male  is  especially  gorgeous. 


233 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

Common  Names 

Schoepf,  in  1787,  recorded  the  New  York  name 
as  blaekfish.  Mitehill  (1814)  writes  of  it  as  sea 
basse,  black  harry,  hanna  hills,  and  bluefish.  De 
Kay  (1842)  has  it  as  the  black  sea-bass,  black  bass, 
and  blaekfish.  Dr.  Storer  mentions  the  Massachu- 
setts name  of  black  perch.  In  the  Middle  States 
a  name  for  the  fish  is  black  will,  and  at  New  Bed- 
ford one  may  hear  it  called  rock-bass.  The  best- 
known  names  are  sea-bass  and  blaekfish. 

Distribution 

There  are  three  distinct  forms  of  sea-bass,  the 
northern,  the  southern,  and  a  third  in  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  The  northern  form  is  found  from  Vine- 
yard Sound  to  Cape  Hatteras,  occasionally  stray- 
ing north  of  Cape  Cod  to  Massachusetts  Bay.  At 
Wood's  Hole,  Mass.,  the  fish  was  very  common  in 
1898,  when  it  arrived  in  May  and  left  the  inshore 
waters  about  October  1,  having  been  most  abun- 
dant from  July  to  September.  In  1900  a  remark- 
able scarcity  of  this  bass  was  reported  at  Wood's 
Hole,  and  observers  of  the  United  States  Fish 
Commission  stated  thai  it  was  rapidly  decreasing 
in  numbers.  Hand-line  fishing,  even  on  the  spawn- 
ing-grounds  off   Hyannis,   was   very   poor,   and 

S34 


A  running  Fight 


THE     S  E  A-B  ASS 

young  fish  were  less  common  than  usual.  Formerly 
the  young  were  abundant  everywhere  in  the  vicinity 
of  Wood's  Hole,  but  in  1900  they  were  limited  to  a 
few  localities. 

The  same  variation  has  been  noted  in  Great 
South  Bay,  where  the  young  are  usually  found  in 
summer,  but  occasionally  fail  to  arrive  except  in 
very  small  numbers.  Off  shore  at  Southampton, 
especially  around  an  old  sunken  wreck  about  two 
miles  at  sea,  adults  are  caught  freely.  Good  fish- 
ing-grounds are  reached  by  steamers  from  New 
York  and  Philadelphia  on  the  near-by  "banks." 
Five  Fathom  Bank,  off  the  coast  of  New  Jersey, 
is  famous  for  its  sea-bass.  In  the  shallow  waters 
of  Great  Egg  Harbor  Bay  hundreds  of  small- 
sized  sea-bass  can  be  taken  in  a  day,  and  it  is 
sometimes  difficult  to  keep  them  away  from  bait 
intended  for  larger  fish.  The  natural  range  of  the 
fish  has  sometimes  been  extended  by  the  transfer 
of  live  bass  in  well-smacks  to  waters  north  of  their 
usual  limit. 

Favorite  Haunts 

The  young  sea-bass  prefer  the  channels  of 
shallow  bays  and  the  vicinity  of  wharves  and  land- 
ings. Large  fish  frequent  the  offshore  "  banks  " 
where  the  bottom  is  rocky.  A  sunken  wreck  de- 
lights the  adults,  because  it  attracts  food  and  fur- 
nishes shelter  also. 

SS5 


THE    basses:    fres  h-w  ater   and    marine 

Habits 

The  young  are  found  in  the  eel-grass  in  summer 
and  fall  as  well  as  in  channels.  The  adults  like 
to  hide  in  rock  crevices,  reminding  one  of  the  tau- 
tog  in  that  respect.  The  species  is  sluggish,  but 
voracious.  In  their  seasonal  migration  the  adults 
usually  arrive  at  Cape  Cod  during  the  first  or 
second  week  in  May,  when  the  water  has  reached 
a  temperature  of  48°  to  50°  F.;  but  in  1900,  in 
spite  of  the  cold  weather,  they  appeared  at  Cutty- 
hunk  and  Menemsha  Bight  on  April  28,  —  with 
one  exception  the  earliest  arrival  recorded  in  twenty- 
five  years. 

The  sea-bass  feeds  upon  shrimp,  crabs,  sea- 
worms,  squid,  small  fishes,  and  other  animals  of 
suitable  size.  This  omnivorous  appetite  makes  it 
vulnerable  to  almost  any  bait. 

Spawning  takes  place  at  Wood's  Hole,  Mass., 
in  June,  and  the  species  breeds  throughout  its 
range  during  the  sunmier  months.  The  egg  is  one 
twenty-sixth  of  an  inch  in  diameter  and  is  hatched 
in  five  days  in  water  at  a  temperature  of  59°  or 
60°  F.  The  egg  is  buoyant  in  sea  water.  It  has 
been  hatched  artificially,  and  the  supply  of  fish  can 
be  kept  up  indefinitely  by  fish-culture  whenever 
required. 


THE     S  E  A-B  ASS 

Qualities 

The  voracity  of  the  species  makes  it  one  of  the 
most  persistent  biters  in  the  entire  range  of  anglers' 
fishes.  It  is  a  strong-pulling  fish  and  bores  toward 
the  bottom  with  vigorous  tugs  when  hooked.  The 
flesh  is  white,  firm,  and  very  palatable,  so  that  we 
reckon  this  bass  among  the  most  valuable  of  our 
food-fishes. 


Size  and  Rate  of  Grvowth 

The  young  grow  very  rapidly.  At  the  end  of 
July  they  measure  three  fourths  of  an  inch;  by 
the  end  of  October  they  will  be  from  two  to 
three  inches  long.  Adults  reach  a  length  of 
eighteen  inches,  and  a  weight  of  six  pounds. 


Methods  of  Capture 

Large  fish  in  deep  water  are  frequently  taken 
T\dth  hand-lines;  but  a  more  sportsmanlike  way  is 
to  use  a  light  rod  of  wood  or  cane,  a  fine  braided 
linen  line  on  a  multiplying  reel,  Nos.  1-0  to  3-0 
Sproat  or  Aberdeen  hooks  snelled  on  single  gut, 
a  leader  three  or  four  feet  long,  and  a  sinker 
varying  in  weight  with  the  strength  of  the  tide* 

237 


THE    basses:     fres  h-w  ater    and    marine 

A  landing-net  will  prove  very  useful,  and  the 
greatest  comfort  will  be  secured  by  fishing  from 
an  anchored  boat. 

The  baits  are  clams,  shrimp,  shedder-crab,  sand- 
worms,  squid,  pieces  of  menhaden,  or  various  small 
fishes. 


I 


FOURTEEN  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

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^E^^Ur^t^e'''                               U„ivt,^|J{|iS.nia 

I 


